We're Going To Be Okay
by Rocky2e
Summary: House and Cuddy want their happily ever after, but are having problems achieving it. This is the last story in my series and it mostly deals with their attempt to have a wedding. Huddy, with Emma and Ian.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Welcome back to my last story everyone! In case you just tuning in this is the fourth story in my series, I recommend going back and reading "**_**Our Favorite Mistake", "Prepare For Complications" **_**and "**_**It All Leads Up To This"**_**. This doesn't really doesn't need to be said, but obviously I don't House and all the original characters. I do, however, own Kim, Emma, Ian, and all other new characters. This story takes place in October, three months after IALUTT. Emma is three and Ian is six months old, enjoy!**

**Chapter One- Making Progress**

"Ian move!" Three year old Emma yells at her six month old brother sitting contently in his high chair. Cuddy hears Emma yell from the master bedroom and goes to inspect the scene.

"Emma, your brother is a baby, he doesn't understand you. Go around your brother," Cuddy scolds at her daughter who stands next to the highchair with her arms crossed.

"She reminds me of you," House whispers in Cuddy's ear, successfully scaring her.

"I am not that stubborn," Cuddy insists and moves around House heading back into her room.

"Do you want pancakes before Marina gets here or are you just going to stand there stubbornly?" House asks Emma who hasn't moved an inch.

"Pancakes!" Emma orders and points to a random cabinet.

"What's the magic word Emma?" Cuddy yells.

"PLEASE!" Emma bellows and sits down in her new pink booster chair. House makes pancakes while Ian and Emma fool around.

"I am running so late," Cuddy says while grabbing her briefcase off the kitchen table.

"Calm down, you can't get fired," House says.

"Of course not, than you would too," Cuddy gives Emma and Ian a kiss and slips a coat on.

"Where's my kiss?" House pouts and sticks his lips out. Cuddy rolls her eyes and kisses House on the cheek before leaving.

Cuddy arrives at PPTH and immediately heads to Wilson's office for some advice.

"Can you keep House distracted for like an hour at noon?" Cuddy asks.

"You know I am going to have ask why Cuddy," Wilson says.

"I am meeting with a wedding planner,"

"Without House knowing,"

"We have been struggling to get the wedding plans off the ground. I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to ask for help from a professional,"

"He's going to find out,"

"I know, I was just hoping he could find out after the meeting is over so he doesn't embarrass me,"

"I am not going to lie to him," Cuddy nods and closes the door behind her on her way out.

House arrives especially late at eleven thirty since he doesn't have a case. He decides to go into Wilson's office to badger him into buying lunch.

"Hey where are you taking me for lunch?" House asks and crashes on Wilson's couch.

"How about Teddy's? We haven't been there in a while," Wilson says while scanning a patient file. House narrows his eyes in suspicion,

"It's interesting that you agreed right away which means that you don't want me here. Not you, Cuddy. Why does Cuddy want you to take me out for lunch?" Wilson ignores House and jots down notes in the file.

"I know you want to tell me Wilson, what doesn't Cuddy want me to be here for?"

"I told Cuddy I wouldn't tell you," House stares at Wilson until he gives in.

"Cuddy is meeting with someone at noon in her office, that is all I know," Wilson half lies. House nods,

"I need some food, Cuddy keeps buying healthy crap. Let's go down to the cafeteria so you can buy me a reuben." Wilson sighs but agrees because he feels guilty for betraying Cuddy's confidence and for lying to House.

"Fine if Cuddy asks, you didn't hear it from me," House nods and follows Wilson down to the cafeteria. After they eat lunch, Wilson goes to see some of his more critical patients while House goes to spy on Cuddy.

"Dr. Cuddy, there is someone here to see you," Kim says while walking into her office.

"Thanks Kim, can you send her in?" Cuddy says and turns off her computer. Kim closes the door behind her and an elderly woman enters a few seconds later.

"You must be Dr. Cuddy, I am Katherine from Happily Ever After Weddings," Cuddy shakes the woman's hand and tries not to laugh at the ridiculous name of the company.

"So, are we waiting for the groom?" Katherine asks and looks around Cuddy's office.

"No, he is here, but he has a patient to attend to," Cuddy lies. Katherine nods and begins taking color swatches out of her briefcase. Meanwhile, House is at the nurse's station trying to get a view of the meeting.

"We should start with themes. I was thinking a black and white wedding or under the sea or…." Katherine could see Cuddy's eyes drift over to her door.

"Is there something wrong?" Katherine asks Cuddy. Cuddy could see a bit of House's cane peeking out through the door.

"It turns out that my fiancé is able to make it after all. Excuse me for a second, I am going to go get him." Katherine nods and focuses on coming up with a few designs while Cuddy walks out of her office.

"Wilson told you what was going on didn't he?" Cuddy asks with a hint of betrayal.

"He told me that you were meeting someone at noon, he didn't say who. I needed to find out,"

"Of course you did, let's go," Cuddy grabs House's hand and pulls him into her office.

"Katherine this is the groom, Dr. Gregory House. Greg, this is our wedding planner," Cuddy smiles with victory at the surprised look on House's face.

"Nice, what do we have planned for our wedding so far?" House asks in a fake cheery voice.

"Well this is what a came up with while you two were outside. It's just a rough sketch," Katherine shows House and Cuddy a diorama of a church with lace and roses dripped all over it.

"That's a little over the top for us. We prefer not to get married in a church." Cuddy says over House's grunting. Katherine nods and grabs a diorama of a standard ballroom. Five minutes later after rearranging and adding different things, Katherine shows them a gaudy picture of a ballroom with pictures of ladies in old time ballgowns.

"I was thinking of an aristocratic wedding," Katherine suggests.

"That's not…." Cuddy starts but is cut off by House.

"That is unbelievably ugly and Cuddy's doesn't need to look any bigger with those disgusting dresses." House rants. Cuddy slaps him on the knee and glares at him. Katherine forces a smile and puts her dioramas away.

"What were you guys thinking of for a wedding?"

"We were thinking of a wedding at a Vegas strip club with a justice of the peace that looks like Mick Jagger." House says and grins at Katherine. Katherine gets a horrified look on her face and stands up.

"Well Dr. House if you aren't going to take this seriously, than I am not going to waste my time. I am the most sought after wedding planners on the East Coast." Katherine storms off leaving House and Cuddy speechless.

"That went well," Cuddy says sarcastically and sits down on her desk.

"We can plan our own wedding,"

"Okay, than let's start," Cuddy says.

"By the way, your ass is huge,"

"House shut up. I forgot to tell you that I am taking Emma to get her Halloween costume after work today."

"I assume that I have to watch our male spawn,"

"Unless you want me to call DCFS, than yes, you are watching our spawn,"

"Great, I can't wait,"

"That's what I thought," House leaves and returns to Wilson's office.

"How did the wedding planner go?" Wilson asks.

"She couldn't take a joke, so she quit,"

"House, did you badger the wedding planner into quitting so you don't have to worry about your wedding?" Wilson asks. House scoffs,

"That bat shit crazy lady wanted to do a wedding _in a church_ with lace and ball gowns. There is psychologically wrong with her,"

"House you guys agreed to actually have a wedding about three months ago. So far you haven't gotten much done."

"Wilson, I know you want to meddle, but Cuddy is all over it,"

"Fine, I will be asking Cuddy periodically,"

"How's the whale?"

"House, Kim is six weeks pregnant, she isn't even showing yet. Why are you asking?"

"Can't I just be nice and ask about your wife who you managed to knock up again?"

"You are trying to see how far along Kim is, so you can tell Chase to start a pool that you somehow always win."

"We are who we are Wilson. Cuddy is making me go with her and Emma for trick or treating on Sunday. She has no consideration for football."

"Poor you having to give up two hours of your Sunday so your kid can go trick or treating for the first time. Can we come too? Kim wants to take the twins too."

"If you and Kim want to waste your time, that's fine with me, I am not going to stop you."

"You are such a good friend,"

"That's why you love me Wilson," House leaves Wilson's office to go watch his soap.

At six, Cuddy shuts off her computer and sends a text to House, who is preoccupied with a new case, reminding him that she is taking Emma out. House doesn't respond so Cuddy starts her car and drives home.

"Emma, I am home!" Cuddy yells as she is opening the door. Emma runs into the room with Marina and Ian following close behind.

"Mommy!"

"Hi baby, are you ready to go?" Emma nods and runs to get her "purse".

"House has a case, I don't really know when he will be home, but we will be back before eight."

"Don't worry Dr. Cuddy; I'll make some chili for Dr. House," Cuddy smiles.

"That's not necessary Marina, you have done enough,"

"I want to," Marina hands Ian over to Cuddy and disappears into the kitchen.

"Hi buddy," Cuddy says and lifts Ian high into the air. Ian giggles and claps his hands.

"Ready!" Emma exclaims and grabs her jacket. Cuddy kisses Ian and puts him into the swing.

"Marina, we are leaving!" Cuddy yells.

"Okay!" Marina yells back. Cuddy and Emma get into the car and head to Target.

"What do you want to be Emma?" Cuddy asks her daughter while looking at the vast amount of costumes. Emma takes a second to think,

"Doctor, like daddy!" Emma declares. Cuddy can't help but get teary eyed at Emma's idea.

"What do you think doctors wear Emma?" Cuddy asks curiously, wanting to know what Emma thinks a doctor is.

"Jeans and a t shirt," Emma says and starts looking around. Cuddy stifles a laugh and makes a mental note to tell House their daughter's portrayal of his profession.

"Doctors wear white coats, like Uncle Wilson."

"Daddy doesn't," Emma argues back.

"Well, he should, mommy's going to have to yell at him," Emma giggles and follows Cuddy through the aisles. The majority of young girl's costumes are witches and princesses which discourages Emma a little bit. Cuddy decides to look at the little boys costumes just to make sure she didn't overlook anything. Cuddy manages to find miniature scrubs and a white coat for Emma to wear.

"Here Emma," Cuddy hands her daughter the costume.

"What's this?" Emma asks pointing to the scrubs.

"Doctor's wear those when they need to go into surgery, they are called scrubs. Daddy doesn't wear them because he isn't a surgeon." Cuddy explains.

"Daddy's a diagstician," Emma says proudly.

"Yes, Daddy is a _diagnostician_." Cuddy lightly corrects her daughter. The pair head out of the costume section and into the grocery section. Cuddy buys what she needs and they start heading towards check out when Emma sees the beloved toy aisle.

"Please, look!" Emma says and points to the toy aisle. Cuddy mentally curses herself for not taking a different route to the cash registers.

"We can look, but I am not buying you anything," Cuddy emphasizes, although she is hesitant. Emma nods and begins to look wide assortment of dolls. Cuddy waits by the cart, carefully watching Emma peruse over the toys. She sighs when she sees Emma pick up a doll and bring it back to the cart.

"Emma, I told you that you weren't getting a toy today. Go put it back," Cuddy says. Emma glares at her mother and stands on her tip toes so she can throw the toy in the cart. Cuddy immediately takes the toy out of the cart and hands it to Emma.

"Emma Grace House, I am not kidding. Go put that toy back where it belongs." Cuddy says in her best mom voice. Emma, in a pure Housian move, sticks her tongue out at Cuddy and walks away. Cuddy stands there speechless over her daughters behavior, Emma has never been a brat. Cuddy takes the toy out of her cart herself, and rushes to catch her daughter.

"Emma, listen to me," Cuddy grabs Emma and puts her in the seating part of the cart. Emma realizes that she is in serious trouble and her eyes fill with tears.

"Sorry mommy," Emma whispers and a crocodile tear rolls down her cheek.

"Emma you were very disrespectful a few minutes ago. I told you that I wasn't buying you a toy before we went to the toy aisle and you came back with one anyway. When we get home you are sitting in your room until dinner is ready." Cuddy lays down the law and pushes the cart to the check out area. Emma is noticeably silent until they get home.

"Okay, go up in your room and I will come and get you when dinner is ready," Cuddy says when they get in the house. Emma grabs her tiny purse and walks up the stairs with her head hung low. House hears Cuddy reprimanding Emma from the kitchen and walks into the living room to see what's going on.

"What happened?" House asks.

"We were in Target shopping for her costume and she wanted to go look at the toys. I told her that we could look, but I wasn't buying her anything because she has enough stuff. Of course, she comes back with a toy so I told her no. She stuck her tongue out at me and refused to put the toy back. I sent her up to her room until I get dinner ready." Cuddy tells House who is also a little surprised at what Emma did.

"Let me go talk to her," House says and walks over to the elevator.

"Wait…you want to talk to her?" Cuddy asks in shock. House has never volunteered to discipline Emma.

"Why not? I have to learn how to punish my child eventually," House says and limps into the awaiting elevator. Cuddy realizes that he is trying to make up for making the wedding planner quit earlier this morning. She smiles to herself and goes into the kitchen to start dinner.

"Hey squirt," House says and uses his cane to push open Emma's door. Emma is sitting on the bed holding Mr. Dog.

"Hi daddy," Emma says sadly. House sits down on the bed next to Emma and starts to regret telling Cuddy he could handle this. He has no idea what to say because his parents never did this with him. John would beat him up when he did something wrong and Blythe would just look the other way, trying to come up with an excuse to tell the neighbors about her sons bruises.

"So…mom told me what you did in the store today," House starts off awkwardly. Emma nods and refuses to meet House's eyes.

"Emma look at me," House says. Emma puts down her dog and looks House in the eye.

"What did you do wrong?"

"No listen," Emma whispers.

"Right, you weren't very nice to mom, you need to say sorry," House says with confidence. Maybe this is easier than he thought, House thinks to himself.

"Kay Daddy, I go now?" Emma asks and points to the door.

"No, you are going to have to wait until dinner. What are you going to be for Halloween?"

"A doctor, like daddy!" Emma announces happily. House is happily surprised by this;

"You don't want to be an administrator like mommy?"

"No, no mistrator, doctor" Emma says.

"Okay, I am going to talk to mommy, you stay here," House says sternly and leaves the room. Cuddy is busy cooking lasagna in the kitchen when House joins her.

"This parenting crap is complicated," House whines and sits down in a chair.

"You seem to being doing just fine," Cuddy says and sits down next to him.

"Yeah well, we will see in about twenty years just how fine I did," House says and checks on the lasagna.

"It's ready, why don't you go get our princess?" House asks Cuddy. Cuddy takes the elevator up to Emma's room.

"Hi Emma," Cuddy pokes her head in and smiles softly at her daughter.

"I sorry mommy," Emma says and hugs Cuddy's leg.

"I know you are, just don't do it again okay?" Emma nods and Cuddy picks her up.

"Dinner?" Emma asks.

"Yeah, we are having lasagna," Emma's new found favorite. Emma scampers down the stairs and the family enjoys a quiet evening together.

Sunday at about one, Wilson knocks on the door.

"Can you get that? I have to help Emma finish getting ready," Cuddy yells to House who is watching the Patriots game in the living room.

"It's Wilson, I would rather make him wait," House yells back and opens the door.

"Wilson! I had no idea it was you," House says in a fake cheery voice.

"Of course not, especially since I called you ten minutes ago saying I was coming over," House opens the door wider so Wilson can wheel the twins in.

"Where's the whale?" House asks with a hint of concern.

"Kim had some bad morning sickness so she is sleeping. Where's the rest of the House clan?"

"Cuddy is helping the Queen of Stubborness get ready and Ian is sleeping, he woke up with a fever last night. Cuddy can't come." Wilson raises a bushy eyebrow,

"So it's just going to be you and I and three toddlers?" Wilson says worriedly.

"I'll wack them with my cane if someone gets out of line,"

"No you won't" Cuddy says from behind him, making House jump.

"Calm down, our precious angel is going to be just fine,"

"Where's Kim?" Cuddy asks while holding one of the twins.

"Morning sickness is kicking in again," Cuddy nods sympathetically, having been through it twice already.

"Mornin sick?" Emma asks with curiosity. Cuddy looks over at Wilson, wondering if she can tell Emma. Wilson nods,

"Emma, morning sickness happens when you have a baby growing in your belly. The morning sickness is there to tell you that the baby is healthy. Do you understand?" Cuddy asks.

"Yeah, Aunty Kim is having a baby!" Emma says, completely ignoring the rest of what Cuddy said.

"That's right, next summer you will have another cousin!" Cuddy says happily.

"Uncle Wilson look!" Emma shows Wilson her navy scrubs complete with a white coat. Cuddy gave Emma a stethoscope to wear, but it kept falling off.

"We should go, I want to be back in time for the end of the game," Wilson put the twins back in the stroller and House grabs Emma's hand.

"Emma you need to stay close to your dad at all times. Say thank you when you get candy okay?" Cuddy instructs sternly. Emma nods, not wanting to make her mother mad after Friday's incident.

"We will beat people up for candy, let's go Emma," House swings open the door and Wilson rolls the twins out.

"Greg," Cuddy says in a warning tone.

"Lisa," House mocks back, grabs Emma's hand and slams the door behind him, successfully waking up Ian.

House, Wilson, Emma and the twins go door-to-door collecting candy from the neighbors they never bothered to get to know.

"Do you even know these people?" Wilson asks House after the fifth place they stopped at.

"Nope, I just hope that they know us as the people that have wild S-E-X every night," Wilson's jaw drops and he looks to the kids for any indication for any sign that they understood what House said.

"Relax Wilson; I say stuff like that in front of Emma all the time. As long as I spell it out, Cuddy doesn't yell at me."

"Wonderful," Wilson says as they come to another house. Emma rings the doorbell and a woman in her seventies answers the door.

"Hello there," the lady says and drops candy into each kid's bag.

"Hi," Emma says softly and inspects the candy dropped into her bag.

"You are so lucky that you have two great dads that take you trick-or-treating," The lady tells Emma. A horrified look comes over House and Wilson's faces.

"We..aren't…" Wilson stumbles over his words and blushes. House wraps his arm around Wilson.

"He's just shy," House smiles at the lady, fully enjoying messing with Wilson.

"Did you two adopt or did you have a surrogate?" The lady asks. Wilson is shocked by the lady's bluntness and opens his mouth to speak, but of course, House has to mess with him.

"Both, we just love kids," House squeezes Wilson's arm. Emma becomes upset,

"Daddy, tell them bout Mommy," Emma insists. The lady realizes that House is messing with her and slams the door in their face.

"Seriously House, do you have to screw with everyone you meet?"

"It's really fun, you should try it sometimes. At least you play along better than Cuddy, who gets pissed off and walks away."

"Cuddy is smart," Wilson takes the stroller and heads to the next house. Emma runs to catch up with Wilson while House lags behind. Wilson takes the kids to the house and then heads back to where House is sitting.

"I am going to go back and watch the game, there aren't many house's left to cover right?"

"No, I'll take Emma and see you back there soon," House nods and begins walking back to his home. Wilson takes the kids through the remainder of House and Cuddy's neighborhood. They return a half an hour later.

"Thank you for taking Emma the rest of the way," Cuddy says. House is sitting on the couch, relaxing.

"No problem, I should go, I promised Kim I would be home for dinner," Cuddy kisses each one of the twins and hugs Wilson goodbye while Emma dumps out all her candy.

"This is me, this is Ian's," Emma divides her pile unevenly, giving a miniscule amount to her brother.

"Emma, that is very nice of you, but Ian can't have candy yet. He is a baby," Emma shrugs and combines the two piles again.

"Is Ian still sleeping?" House asks.

"He was up for a while when you guys were gone. We played on the floor and then he passed out again after I gave him his bottle and medicine."

"Emma, why don't you take your costume off and get into your pajamas?" Emma scampers up the stairs, leaving House and Cuddy alone to talk.

"While you were gone, I was thinking about the wedding…" Cuddy starts. House sighs,

"What about it?"

"I was thinking of a summer wedding, after Kim has the baby."

"Okay…" House says, knowing that Cuddy has a specific date in mind.

"I wanted to see how you feel about this, I want to have the wedding on the second anniversary of John's death," Cuddy says, throwing caution into the wind. House takes a second to mull it over,

"That sounds good to me, just tell me when and where," House says.

"You aren't going to fight me on this?" Cuddy asks with trepidation.

"Nope, I want to be involved in the wedding planning as little as possible. As long as we have a kick ass naked honeymoon, I don't care what happens on our wedding day. The only thing I am opposed to is getting married in a church; I wouldn't want God to smite us on our wedding day." Cuddy laughs and kisses House.

"The only person you might have to worry about with that rule is my mother, but we aren't speaking so…it won't be a problem."

"Don't worry, the second she hears that we are actually getting married she will insist on controlling the whole thing," Cuddy shivers when she realizes that House is right.

"We could just not tell her," Cuddy suggests, although she knows the thought is ridiculous.

"Do you really think she won't find out?" House asks to which Cuddy sighs.

"House, are we really going to do this?" Cuddy asks seriously.

"Not tell your mother? Well if you want to, than that's fine with me," House says, pretending to not know what Cuddy is talking about.

"You know what I mean,"

"Oh, you were talking about the wedding? Like I said Cuddy, it was my idea and as long as you keep me out of the planning, we are golden."

"Okay, good, than let's have our wedding,"

**A/N 2: I hope you liked my first chapter! I haven't really planned this story out yet, so I don't exactly know what's coming next chapter, but it will be fun. Thanks for reading and please leave a review on your way out.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I am so sorry that I haven't updated in a while! I have been so busy and stressed out lately; writing just went by the wayside. I do appreciate every review I have received and hope to become a better updater. Enjoy the next chapter!**

**Chapter Two-My Mother, I Love Her**

"Greg, are you available to pick my parents up from the airport later today?" Cuddy asks while feeding Ian solid food. House is busy making the rest of them tilapia.

"No, as much as I would love to see your wonderful mother, I have a case developing,"

"It's a day before Thanksgiving; I don't want you stuck at the hospital avoiding my parents,"

"Why did you invite them anyway? I thought you hated your mother,"

"Thanksgiving is about family, and this isn't about me not liking my mother, this is about Emma and Ian seeing her grandchildren."

"Gramma?" Emma asks as she attempts to climb into her chair.

"Grandma and Grandpa are coming today for Turkey Day!" Cuddy says with excitement. House tries to be happy for Cuddy, but he knows how disappointed she gets when Arlene talks about Julia's successes constantly.

"At least Wilson is coming so you have someone to mock all day," Cuddy whispers in House's ear.

"I can't wait," House smiles lightly and kisses Cuddy on the forehead.

"Go to work before Foreman calls me twenty times asking why you don't answer your phone,"

"It's better Foreman calling you than Wilson,"

"Good point, now go,"

"Don't you have a job to go to?" House asks Cuddy.

"House!"

"Hows," Emma mocks and shoves some oatmeal in her face. House closes the door behind him.

"Thirty five year old female with fever, abdominal pain, weakness, joint pain, and jaundice," Taub tells House and hands him the patient's chart.

"Don't need the chart to tell me what you just did," House throws the chart down on the table and walks over to the whiteboard.

"Where's the marker?" House asks looking around his office. Foreman starts adding jaundice to the board, but House snatches the marker from his hand.

"There's a reason this is called a whiteboard," Foreman scoffs and sits down next to Chase.

"Any ideas?" House asks and stares at his team who looks at him blankly.

"We attribute most of her symptoms to the liver failing," Thirteen says finally.

"So, what caused the liver to fail?" Taub asks.

"You guys are my handpicked fellows, you should be figuring that out yourself," House says.

"Cuddy is making you spend Thanksgiving at home, isn't she?" Foreman asks.

"And as an added measure, she is making me spend Thanksgiving with her parents. So, as much as I don't want to solve this case before tomorrow, Cuddy might withhold sex from me. Any ideas for our wonderful patient?" The team and House are interrupted by Cuddy coming with Ian and Emma.

"Daddy!" Emma exclaims and runs over to House who is deep in thought. House is jolted by Emma slapping his leg.

"What are they doing here?" House asks Cuddy who is busy passing Ian to Thirteen.

"Marina is sick and the kids wanted to see you," Cuddy says with confusion, not sure why House is acting so weird.

"Daddy what wrong?" Emma asks. House ignores her and stares intently at the board. Emma scrunches her eyebrows at her mother who is talking to Thirteen.

"House, aren't you going to talk to Emma?" Cuddy asks.

"Go get an ultrasound of the liver and start the patient on anything you can think of to save it," The team disperses leaving Cuddy and House alone with their kids.

"Well we are going to go pick up my parents so say goodbye to dad Emma," Cuddy says and begins putting Ian back into the car seat.

"Bye daddy," House breaks his stare and realizes that he ignored his family the entire time they were there.

"Bye I will see you when I can," House smiles at Emma and Cuddy, who doesn't return his smile.

"Emma go wait outside, I just want to talk to dad real quick," Cuddy knows that Emma is smart enough to get the hint even at such a young age. Emma scampers out leaving House and Cuddy to talk.

"You asked me to solve this case before tomorrow," House says simply. Cuddy nods in understanding,

"I know, I have to go, my mom won't want to wait at the airport," Cuddy says dismissingly. House sighs with frustration and knows that there is nothing he can do right now to alleviate Cuddy's anger.

"I will call you when the morons figure things out," House says and Cuddy picks up Ian's car seat, meeting an impatient Emma at the door.

"Mommy, why's daddy mad?" Emma asks while fiddling with her toy.

"He's not mad sweetie, he was just busy," Cuddy pacifies her daughter, while feeling her anger increase.

"Right cause daddy's a diagstician," Emma says proudly.

"Daddy's a _diagnostician_," Cuddy corrects kindly.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, House goes into Wilson's office looking for guidance.

"I managed to piss off Cuddy yet again," House whines and sits down in his favorite chair. Wilson knows the routine by now and prepares to offer his best advice.

"The day before Thanksgiving and you manage to upset your fiancé, how?"

"The nanny is sick and Cuddy had to pick up her annoying parents so she came by with the kids. I was too wrapped up with the case to give her enough attention so she is mad. I hope she will get over by the time her parents get here so I can have an ally against them." Wilson rolls his eyes, not wanting to get in the middle of another one of their arguments.

"Cuddy will get over it, I am sure of that."

"Well of course, she will, but I don't want her to pretend to get over it because her parents are in town. I want her to forgive me,"

"I hate to point it out, but you haven't actually apologize to her," House scoffs,

"She is just being emotional; she never apologizes for doing her job,"

"Yes she has,"

"When you force her to," House admits that Wilson does have a point.

"Fine I will say sorry because it's the right thing to do. Are you still coming tomorrow?"

"If Cuddy forgives you,"

"That's not fair; I need someone that will mock Arlene with me," House's pager beeps,

"Make it right House,"

"That's what they all say," House says and closes the door behind him.

Cuddy pulls into the airport terminal and waits for her parents to show up.

"Let me know if you see Grandma or Grandpa Okay?" Cuddy tells Emma who has her face pressed up against the window. Cuddy tells herself that everything is going to be okay even if she doesn't believe it. The only reason that Cuddy invited her parents in the first place was because her father is the only grandfather that her kids have. Unfortunately, her parents come as a packaged deal.

"Gamma Gamma Gamma!" Emma yells and tries to get out of the car, but can't because of the child lock. Cuddy unbuckles herself and unleashes Emma who takes of running towards her grandparents.

"Shit," Cuddy whispers and unhinges the car seat from the back seat.

"Hi Emma!" Kevin Cuddy yells and picks up his granddaughter. The trio walks toward Cuddy and Ian.

"Take these bags would you?" Arlene asks and hands Cuddy a suitcase nearly toppling Cuddy over.

"Mom, I am carrying Ian," Cuddy says and holds up Ian's car seat to show her parents her sleeping son.

"Hi little guy," Arlene says and takes back her suitcase. Cuddy opens her trunk and her father puts the suitcases in the back. Everyone gets in the car and Cuddy starts driving home.

"So Lisa, what's new in your life?" Her dad asks.

"Well, obviously I had Ian who is six months old now and House and I decided to get married," Cuddy says and waits for her parents reaction.

"That is wonderful Lisa!" Kevin exclaims and squeezes Cuddy's hand.

"You look unhappy dear," Arlene says from the backseat.

"Arlene…" Kevin says in a threatening tone.

"Arwene…" Emma imitates and hands her grandma her toy.

"Mom, House and I are fine, there's nothing to be concerned with," Cuddy lies and flashes a convincing smile to her parents. Arlene isn't so sure, but keeps her mouth shut…for now.

"I am happy for you and Greg, when is the wedding?"

"In July, Wilson's wife is pregnant so I told her that I would wait until after she gave birth to stick her in a bridesmaid dress."

"Have you made any more plans like your dress, your bridesmaid dresses, your shower, what church you are going to be married at…"

"Mom," Cuddy cuts in to stop Arlene's list.

"What?"

"Greg and I haven't figured all that stuff out yet, we just haven't had time." That seems to shut Arlene up for a while and she focuses her attention on playing with Emma and Ian. The rest of the ride home is spent listening to her dad talk about his patients, Julia, and the vacation they took to Michigan. Cuddy pulls into her home and they unload the bags.

"Mom do you want to carry Ian?" Cuddy asks Arlene. Arlene graciously takes Ian and leads Emma into the house.

"Has Greg come home yet?" Kevin asks after seeing the disappointed look on Cuddy's face.

"No, but he was pretty wrapped up in a case this morning,"

"Is that the reason why you looked so pissed off in the car?" Kevin asks Cuddy as they are walking into the house. Cuddy stops and tries to mask her disappointment.

"I..." Cuddy is interrupted by Arlene coming up to them.

"Is there anything wrong?" Arlene asks with concern.

"No Lisa was just asking me if I had any ideas about his patient," Kevin lies.

"Okay, well I am going to start cooking dinner, is spaghetti and meatballs fine with everyone?"

"Yeah mom thank you, but you don't have to cook,"

"Don't worry Lisa, will Greg be joining us?"

"I don't think so, but I can call him when it's closer to dinner time," Arlene seems to accept this answer and disappears into the kitchen. Emma comes down the stairs after depositing her jacket in her room,

"Where's Gamma?" Emma asks Cuddy and Kevin.

"In the kitchen, I think she was looking for a special helper," Cuddy tells Emma who runs into the kitchen after Arlene.

"So what were you going to say before your mother interrupted us?" Kevin asks.

"I was going to say that when House has a case he gets distracted and forgets to come home. Normally if it was just the two of us I wouldn't mind as much, but Emma notices and Ian will too eventually." Cuddy admits, but feels guilty for feeling that way.

"Lisa, I know it's hard, but he is a doctor, that's the job. If you don't want that, than you shouldn't be marrying House." Cuddy feels the need to defend House,

"No dad, I love him and God knows that he has put up with enough of my crap over the years. It's just that when he is on a case he gets distant and distracted. I know it's not his fault,"

"but it gets frustrating." Kevin finishes for her who nods.

"He's worth it though," Cuddy says.

"Than you two will be happy together," Cuddy hears Ian crying and bolts upstairs. Cuddy takes Ian downstairs and puts him in the high chair.

"What does he want?" Arlene asks and shuffles through the neatly organized jars of Gerber baby food.

"Let's try peas and carrots," Cuddy says and accepts the jar Arlene hands her. Cuddy is in shock on how well they are getting along.

"Have you found out if Greg is coming for dinner? We don't have all night." And there it goes again…

"I'll call him, can you feed him?" Arlene accepts the jar and Cuddy goes into the living room to call House.

"House," House grumbles into the phone.

"You sound exhausted," Cuddy says, her voice marring with concern.

"I am, my patient's liver isn't responding to any of our treatment methods. I am not going to be able to make it home for dinner," Cuddy swallows her frustration.

"Alright, it's better today than tomorrow. I know that you are doing as fast as you can,"

"I will talk to you when I know something," House says and hangs up the phone not giving Cuddy a chance to say goodbye.

"It's time for dinner," Arlene disrupts Cuddy who is shocked by her fiancé hanging up on her.

"Okay did Ian take all of the food?" Cuddy asks.

"The majority of it, now come on, dinner is getting cold," Cuddy follows behind Arlene and takes a seat in between her father and Emma.

"Tell me about the wedding," Arlene orders.

"Like I said earlier we have been so busy with Ian and work that we haven't had time to sit down and plan a wedding. The only thing I know is that we plan to get married in July. Kim and I are going wedding dress shopping on Friday. Other than that, I don't know."

"Lisa you two have been engaged for over two years. It's time for you guys to put your family first,"

"Mom, I am trying to, it's harder than it looks. Greg is changed enough to actually consider having a wedding, let alone a marriage." Kevin knows that his wife is stubborn enough to steamroll over their daughter's plans for the wedding, so he decides to intervene.

"Mommy, daddy, marry," Emma babbles and returns to chomping on her meatball.

"Arlene, Lisa and Greg our doing this their way, this isn't our decision anymore." Kevin whispers in his wife's ear. Arlene pats Kevin on the cheek and turns to Cuddy,

"I think that we should start with finding you a dress and go from there. This conversation is officially put on hold until Friday," Arlene declares and starts picking up dirty dishes.

"That's the best you can ask for Lisa, you know that," Kevin says softly after noticing the heightened worry lines on Cuddy's face.

"She is not going to ruin my wedding," Cuddy says and takes Emma into the bathroom to clean her up.

Around one in the morning, House stumbles into his home. He tries to be as quiet as he can so he doesn't wake up anyone in the house. House pops a Vicodin, dresses into more comfortable clothes and climbs into bed next to Cuddy. Cuddy, being an incredibly light sleeper, immediately notices the weight being added to the bed. She rolls over and her eyes flutter open.

"Did you solve your case?" Cuddy whispers and greets House with a kiss which he graciously accepts.

"Of course I did, the idiot had hemochromatosis. She is on the transplant list, but there is a slim chance of her actually getting the liver in time. How's my favorite almost mother in law?" Cuddy sighs and makes a face at House.

"She is convinced that we are going to screw this wedding up because we aren't doing things her way,"

"Puh, figures, I guess you got over being mad at me huh?" House asks to Cuddy's surprise.

"I wasn't…"

"Save it Cuddlemuffin, you had your 'I am going to claw you' look out. I didn't mean to ignore you guys earlier, but I had my mojo going. You don't interrupt a geniuses' mojo."

"Go to sleep we have a long day of family ahead of us tomorrow,"

"I will beat your mother with my cane if she suggests getting married in a church,"

"I kind of crushed her dreams on that one, I wouldn't want a cane imprint on her head, my dad might be a little pissed."

"I am surprised your dad hasn't put her six feet under yet,"

"Good night House,"

"Night Cuddy," House grabs Cuddy's ass and scurries over to the other side of the bed.

The next day, Wilson and Kim arrive at Cuddy's house with their twins around two.

"Hey House, I figured you needed this," Kim says and hands him a bottle of bourbon.

"You are my favorite almost sister in law," House comments and snatches the bottle out of Kim's hands.

"I would have finished by myself but being knocked up again sadly prevents me from consuming necessary alcohol." House sticks out his tongue and downs a swish of bourbon.

"I hate you," Kim whispers and points to Cuddy's parents who are making small talk with Wilson. Arlene excuses herself from talking with Wilson and walks over to Kim and House.

"Hi Kimberly, my daughter tells me that you are expecting again congratulations," Arlene says and offers an awkward hug to Kim.

"Kimberly?" Kim mouths to House while hugging Arlene.

"Thank you Mrs. Cuddy," Kim says and offers a polite smile. Arlene notices the bourbon in House's hand and frowns.

"Greg, this is a family function, there is no alcohol allowed at a family function," Arlene says and snatches the bottle out of House's hands. Kim snickers into her hand and pats House on the shoulder.

"Sucks to be you right now," Kim whispers and joins Cuddy in the kitchen.

"I got House a bottle of booze so he can survive the day and your mother took it away and hid it. I would expect a lot of whining from him throughout the day." Cuddy laughs and puts the stuffing into the oven.

"I am sure my fiancé can make it out without getting plastered. Although there have been times where I wonder why I am sober. Has my mother verbally harassed you yet?"

"Not yet, but we have only been here for twenty minutes. She has the whole day to come up with something. How has she been for you?"

"Besides shoving my wedding down my throat, just peachy."

"I am so glad my mother is relatively normal,"

"Shut up, I will just be happy when all the wedding planning crap is over and we can actually enjoy the day. Just be prepared to answer some uncomfortable questions at dinner,"

"Cuddy, I am your self-declared best friend, I will let House shove his cane up your mothers ass if need be,"

"Gee thanks for defending my honor,"

"Hey, I am pregnant and I'm afraid what your dad will do to me if I hit his wife."

"Speaking of my father, have you seen him?"

"Yeah, he told Wilson that he wanted to talk to House before dinner, why?" Cuddy feared that after what she told her dad yesterday he would want to talk to House.

"House and I got into a little disagreement yesterday and I think my dad is trying to straighten it out on his own,"

"If you hear House scream, call 911. I am going to check on my husband and your mother," Kim leaves Cuddy in the kitchen alone while Kevin ushers House into the man cave.

"So, I heard that you and Lisa are planning on getting married," Kevin says to House who seems a little nervous.

"She tied me down and forced me to purpose,"

"Are you saying that you aren't taking this engagement seriously?" Kevin asks. House opens his mouth and shuts it again,

"No, I tend to make jokes when I am nervous,"

"Greg, I don't mean to intimidate you; I just want what is best for my daughter and grandchildren."

"Mr. Cuddy, I want to tell you that Cuddy and I are going to be married for a long time, but I can't. We are both stubborn and like to have things our way. I love her and she loves me, other than that, I don't know." Kevin can tell House is genuine about his feelings for Cuddy.

"I appreciate that Greg. Now I can't stop my wife from wanting to interfere because that is just who she is, but I can stop having doubts about you."

"Can you tell Arlene that we aren't getting married in a church, Cuddy told me that she would poison the turkey if I told your wife that." Kevin cracks a smile,

"It's your wedding; I am staying out of it. Good luck with my wife," Kevin goes back upstairs, leaving House standing there in shock. Wilson sees Kevin step off the elevator without House and decides to go see what his best friend is up to.

"I know you are there Wilson, I can hear you caring," House says without turning around. Wilson sits down on the basement couch and House paces around the man cave.

"Cuddy's parents are beyond annoying, this is one of the times I am glad John didn't give two shits about me,"

"House they are just trying to help,"

"Somehow, I think we can manage without them," House pops a Vicodin and stands up.

"Where are you going?" Wilson asks and stands up as well.

"I am going to ask Cuddy if we can have a quickie before dinner," Wilson rolls his eyes and walks behind House.

"Where are the kids?" Wilson asks scanning the rooms upstairs.

"My spawn is playing with your spawns in her room. My other spawn is sleeping I presume. Or Grandma of the year is watching her new favorite grandchild like a hawk, I really don't care which. It's quiet Wilson, enjoy the quiet."

"How was your talk with Cuddy's dad?" Wilson asks, although he knows he shouldn't.

"Cuddy's father is doing the smart thing and staying out of our wedding planning. That is the only intelligent thing he has done since having Cuddy forty years ago."

"Dinner's ready!" Arlene announces from the kitchen.

"Greg can you go get the kids?" Cuddy asks.

"Oh sure ask the cripple to go upstairs,"

"That is the reason we bought the elevator,"

"Don't get sassy with me Pookie," House quips and takes the elevator upstairs.

"It's time for dinner kids," House says to Emma, Terri and Daniel.

"Daddy look!" Emma points to her mock Thanksgiving dinner she set up with her fake kitchen.

"That's nice Emma, but there is a real turkey downstairs that we have to go eat,"

"Kay 'mon boys!" Emma says and leads the way out of her room. The twins eagerly follow her to the elevator while House lags behind. By the time House gets downstairs and is seated. The only open seat left is between Cuddy and Arlene.

"Greg, come sit by me, we have a lot of wedding planning to go over," Arlene says and beams at House. House swears under his breath and offers a fake grin back to Arlene.

"Wonderful…"

**A/N 2: Okay, I was going to make it longer, but I decided to break it up into two chapters. Next chapter we get the rest of Thanksgiving with Cuddy's parents and wedding dress shopping. Also, House surprises Cuddy with a wedding plan of his own. Review if you get the chance! Thanks for reading. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews! They are motivation and help me come up with new ideas. Also, this is story is definitely my last fanfic, I feel like I need to move on because "House" itself is moving on, sadly. Anyway, enjoy my next chapter.**

**Chapter Three- Dealing With Her**

_"Greg, come sit by me, we have a lot of wedding planning to go over," Arlene says and beams at House. House swears under his breath and offers a fake grin back to Arlene._

_ "Wonderful…" _House sits down and tries to ignore the Wilson's annoyingly cheery grin.

"So, how are you helping my daughter planning _your_ wedding?" Arlene asks House and slaps some turkey on his plate. House scowls at the gesture, but reminds himself to be calm for Cuddy's sake.

"I told Cud…I mean Lisa early on that I didn't want to be involved in any sort of the wedding planning. The only thing I objected to was getting married in a church."

"Why is that Greg?" Arlene asks in a threatening tone.

"Because it might burn down…" House snaps back at her. Kim lightly chuckles and Wilson kicks her under the table, a stern warning not to get involved.

"Well, shame on you for teaching your children to not get married in a church." Arlene scolds and looks over at Emma who is babbling away with Wilson's twins.

"Mom, for the millionth time, it is _my _wedding. I am respecting Greg's simple request to not get married in a church, a Justice of the Peace will suit me just fine," House wraps an arm around Cuddy to show Arlene he is supporting Cuddy standing up for herself.

"Of course it is dear, I am just looking out for what's best for you," Arlene says and reaches across House to pat Cuddy's hand. Cuddy is shocked by this gesture of affection coming from her mother, usually reserved for Julia and the favorite grandkids. House resists the urge to roll his eyes and whispers something about Arlene being the Wicked Witch of the West into his best friend's ear.

"Be nice, that is your future mother in law," Wilson whispers back to House who sticks his tongue out in response. Kim winks at House, having heard what he said to Wilson. Kevin is busy trying to get a unwilling Emma to swallow a few bites of turkey and hasn't really been paying attention to the conversation, but based on the pissed off expressions on his daughter and House's faces, it can't be going well. _Do not get involved, otherwise you will be sleeping on the couch when we get home,_ Kevin tells himself and picks up another bite of turkey for Emma to choke down.

"I am sure you will change your mind when the date gets closer dear, that's what Julia's husband did."

"We can see how well that turned out," House says sarcastically, earning a double glare from the Cuddy women.

"Poor Julia had to deal with Jack's wandering eye. Of course with how beautiful she is, she found a new husband right away." House gags a little after that comment from Arlene. Julia is nowhere near as beautiful as Cuddy; if Arlene could get her head out of her ass she would see that.

"Kim and I are helping Cuddy out with the wedding planning a lot Mrs. Cuddy, there is no need to worry," Wilson says, his knight-in-shining-armor routine in full effect.

"I am sure you are, James. Lisa tells me that you have another baby on the way?" Arlene asks. Wilson puts a hand on Kim's abdomen,

"Yes, he or she is expected to be here in June." House shivers in fear when he sees the expression on Arlene's face. He has seen it before, but instead, on Cuddy's face; Arlene has figured out something, and it can't be good.

"That's funny because my daughter's wedding is July. Tell me Kimberly, why are being selfish and postponing my daughter's wedding?" Cuddy's jaw drops and Wilson immediately comes to his wife's defense, but is cut off by none other than House.

"Listen, you can badger me all you want about how I am not a good enough whatever for Cuddy, which I don't even see why you even care because you are always paying more attention to the chosen child anyway. However, that doesn't give you the right to harass Shamu about _my _wedding. Kim was totally being fine with being a beached whale in an unnecessary bridesmaid dress for your daughter. I suggest you stick a sock in it and eat this rubber you call turkey." Arlene is flustered and glances over at Kevin for help. Kim on the other hand is silently grateful that House is sticking up to her and points to the bourbon for later. House nods and smirks back her. Emma on the other hand apparently has had enough of all the fighting,

"Hey, 'tis Turkey Day! Fightin' bad!" Emma wags her finger at everyone at the table who can't help but laugh at the adorable three year old.

"Yeah, bad!" Terri and Daniel echo and high five each other. Kim and Wilson beam at their twins who are spitting images of Wilson.

"Look mom, why don't we talk about this tomorrow when we go bridal shopping okay?" Arlene seems to accept her daughter's offer,

"Fine, we have to make sure that we get you in a dress that covers up all the baby weight you still have to lose," Cuddy sighs and peers down at her full plate, suddenly losing her appetite. House takes the opportunity to clear Cuddy's plate onto his own, earning him a "what the hell" glare from Cuddy.

"It saves me a trip to the kitchen; I thought you would be proud of my geniusness." Cuddy scoffs and takes the untouched green beans from House's plate.

The rest of the meal is eaten is relative silence, the conversation dwindling to mundane topics. Cuddy can't help but be concerned about Kim, she knows firsthand how unintentionally brutal her mother can be. It isn't fair that Arlene thinks she can go after Cuddy and everyone that is close to her. At the same time, Cuddy knows that no matter how many times she gets mad or cuts off communication with Arlene, the outcome is the same; her mother is who she is.

"Excuse me," Kim says and gets up from the table. House gestures to Cuddy to go follow her. Cuddy waits a few seconds and backs up her chair, walking into the guest bathroom where Kim is sitting on the floor next to the toilet.

"Are you okay?" Cuddy asks. Kim nods and wipes her mouth only seconds before she starts dry heaving into the toilet.

"Yeah, they don't tell you that morning sickness lasts all day," Cuddy smiles sympathetically, knowing what Kim has gone through.

"I thought it had something to do with my mother attacking you," Cuddy grabs a rag from the sink, wets it and hands it to Kim.

"That old hag doesn't bother me, plus I have House to stand up to her," Cuddy laughs and rubs Kim's back.

"I am happily surprised House did that, I thought Wilson was going to have a coronary at the table," Kim scoffs,

"Oh please, my husband always looks like that," Kim says and throws up again. Wilson knocks on the door,

"Speak of the devil, come on in Wilson," Cuddy says and gets up to unlock the door.

"Morning sickness?" Wilson asks and Cuddy switches places with him.

"Is a bitch, are the boys okay?" Kim asks.

"Yeah they are busy listening to Mr. Cuddy and House argue about the Patriots game."

"Good, I think I am ready to go. Hopefully the vomiting can subside until then. Can you get the boys ready?" Wilson nods and starts to get up,

"I got it Wilson, stay here with Kimberly," Cuddy uses her full name to imitate her mother. Kim laughs while Wilson gets her a glass of water.

"Emma, your cousins have to go home, help them get ready."

"Kay mommy," Emma says and climbs out of her chair, "mon boys, get jackets." The boys eagerly follow her to the mud room to get their stuff together. Wilson and Kim come out of the bathroom minutes later to grab their own coats.

"Wow, you guys sure look fine for just having a quickie," House says.

"Actually, I threw up all over your bathroom, have fun cleaning that up," Kim says and hugs Cuddy goodbye.

"Puh, I will just make Cuddy to do it," House says and high fives Wilson. Kevin, as an observer, is happy that Cuddy has found a best friend is Wilson's wife. He secretly wishes that Arlene would try to be friends with his friends wives. Kim, Wilson and their kids leave shortly after saying their goodbyes.

"Well, who is up for watching a movie?" Kevin asks the group.

"ME!" Emma says and runs into the living room to grab _Cinderella_, her favorite.

"I have to go check on Ian; I'll meet you guys in the basement." Cuddy walks upstairs to the nursery while everyone else heads downstairs. House waits at the table for Cuddy to come back to the kitchen, carrying a now awake Ian.

"Are you going to watch the movie with my parents?" Cuddy asks, assuming the answer is no.

"I was waiting for you, I don't want your mother to attack me without you being there as a witness," Cuddy laughs and holds out her hand for House to grab.

"Come on, they are going home on Saturday, we can make it until then."

"I am wearing a bulletproof vest until we drop them off at the airport," House stands up and leads Cuddy and Ian to the elevator.

Tomorrow after they eat lunch, Cuddy, Kim and Arlene drive to La Sposa Bridal Shop in downtown Princeton. House, Wilson and Kevin are now responsible for watching Daniel, Terri, Emma and Ian.

"This is nice," Arlene says as she steps out of the car. Kim and Cuddy nod in agreement and they walk into the store.

"Hi, welcome to La Sposa Bridal, can I help you find something?" A saleswoman asks.

"No, we are just looking for right now," Cuddy says. The saleswoman backs off, leaving the trio to look around. Cuddy walks over to the bridesmaid dresses and starts looking.

"Why are you looking at bridesmaid dresses if you don't have bridesmaids?" Arlene asks.

"Mom I have bridesmaids. Kim, Julia and Thirteen are going to be my bridesmaids. I already have a color picked out." Cuddy digs in her purse and shows Arlene the color sample, an ocean blue matching House's eyes.

"Oh that is really pretty," Kim says, looking at the swatch. Cuddy and Arlene pick out a few dresses from many for Kim to try on. Although Thirteen and Julia aren't there, they will get their measurements done once a dress is picked out. Kim tries out three dresses, two simple dresses with straps and a satin material. They decided that satin isn't the right fabric for a July wedding. The last dress won them over, a chiffon dress with a sweetheart neckline with a cross body design on the bust.

"Kim you look gorgeous," Cuddy says, admiring how the blue matches with Kim's green eyes and tan skin. Arlene doesn't say anything, but slightly nods her head in agreement. Kim does a twirl, liking how light and airy the dress feels.

"I think this dress is the best one Lisa," Arlene says and points to Kim. Cuddy agrees and motions for a saleswoman to come over.

"We are going to need to order three of those dresses," Cuddy says and fills out some paperwork while Kim and Arlene start looking at bridal gowns.

Back at home, House is giving Ian his lunch while watching _The Lion King_ with everyone else.

"Do you think Cuddy has found a dress yet?" Wilson asks House.

"Don't know, don't care," House responds.

"You will when you see her walking down the aisle," Kevin comments.

"Hey grandpa, I will only be worried about when I get to take the dress off," House wags his eyebrows mischievously.

"I am going to ignore that comment since it's about my daughter. Speaking of which, why don't you take her out to dinner tonight," Kevin suggests.

"Why would I do that?" House asks.

"Because you owe me after that disgusting comment, also, I am sure you don't get a chance to spend a lot of alone time with Lisa since Emma and Ian was born."

"Believe me after the kids go to bed, we get our alone time," House says. Wilson shakes his head after another sexual remark slips out of his best friend's mouth. The first rule of talking to your wife/girlfriend/fiancé's father is to not talk about sex. He feels the need to intercede before House gives a second by second account of him and Cuddy's sex life.

"House would love to take Cuddy out to dinner. I will book a table at Salute's tonight." Wilson says and pulls out his iPhone.

"Knock yourself out, I am going to play with Ian upstairs. Let me know so I can inform Cuddy what time to start getting ready," House takes Ian to the nursery while Wilson plays the doctor card and gets a reservation at 6:30. While Ian is fiddling with his latest toy, House puts a call into the bridal shop listed on Cuddy's calendar at work.

"Hello this is Debbie, thanks for calling La Sposa Bridal. How can I help you?" House bypasses the extremely irritating voice and focuses on his main objective.

"Hi, I believe my fiancé is there trying on bridal gowns, she is the short brunette there with a taller blonde and an old lady."

"Yeah, I see them," Debbie answers, unsure where this is going.

"Good, now find a catalogue and go to page 54," House instructs, looking at the same catalogue he confiscated from Cuddy's briefcase yesterday.

"Okay I'm there," Debbie says into the phone.

"I want you to take that dress and hide it. When my fiancé looks like she is ready to give up shopping I want you to present that dress and tell her that I picked it out."

"Aw that is so sweet," Debbie says. House hangs up on her and hopes that this is the dress Cuddy was talking about when he asked her what she was looking for in a dress; something simple, but elegant, strapless, nothing over the top with an annoyingly long train or heavy skirt.

"House you got the table! Tell Cuddy to be ready at 6:15!" Wilson yells up to him.

After trying on almost 20 gowns, Cuddy is ready to give up. The dresses are either too over the top or too simple or don't fit right or just don't look right.

"We can always try another day somewhere else Cuddy," Kim says.

"I know, as annoying as my mother is, I wanted her input on my dress. She won't be coming back to Princeton until a week before the wedding. I can't wait that long to find a dress." Kim nods in understanding and walks to the back to look some more. Debbie notices the all too familiar discouragement of a bride-to-be not finding the perfect dress. She grabs the dress House described over the phone and walks over to Cuddy.

"I have one more suggestion for you," Debbie says and hands Cuddy the dress. Cuddy gasps, recognizing the dress from the catalogue that mysteriously disappeared yesterday.

"House," Cuddy whispers and yells for Kim and Arlene to meet her in the dressing room. Cuddy quickly changes into the dress and steps out onto the 360 degree mirror to take a look at herself. The dress is strapless with Chantilly lace detailing on the top leading into a simple ivory train. Exactly what Cuddy was looking for, simple but elegant.

"You look gorgeous," Arlene says and wipes a tear cascading down her cheek. Cuddy is overwhelmed with emotion and disappears into the dressing room to collect herself.

"I think she wants that one," Kim tells Debbie and waits for Cuddy to come out. Cuddy dresses back into her normal clothes and fills out the paperwork for the bridal gown.

"House picked that dress out," Cuddy gushes to Kim who, naturally, is shocked.

"How did he…" Kim asks, but is cut off by Cuddy.

"I don't know, I think he took my 'girly magazine' out of my briefcase yesterday and picked it out, knowing I would like it."

"Wow, I can't believe House did that!"

"I know, I think he feels guilty for not being involved in the wedding planning. This makes up for a lot though."

"Of course it does, I will definitely have to mock him for this when we get back,"

"As tempting as that sounds, I am going to ask you to not make fun of him. This is his way of getting involved in our wedding and I don't want to discourage him. He is fair game at the reception though, but for now as a favor to me, just keep quiet about it. My mother doesn't even know that House picked that dress out. Out of respect for him, I want it to stay that way for a while."

"Of course, I will silently mock him from afar then," Kim jokes and smiles at Cuddy. Arlene joins the girls and they head home.

When they arrive back at Cuddy's place, they are shocked to find all the kids and Wilson asleep on the couch.

"Where are House and Ian?" Cuddy whispers to her father who is watching the news on mute.

"House put Ian down for a nap about an hour ago and then disappeared downstairs." Kevin whispers back. Kim and Arlene sit down next to their sleeping husbands while Cuddy takes the elevator downstairs to see her fiancé.

"Die!" House yells into his headset as he shoots at an enemy soldier in Call of Duty. Cuddy sneaks up behind House, who is sitting on the couch, and pinches his neck. House jumps in his seat and whips around to see who the assailant is. As soon as he turns around, his soldier takes a fatal blow to the stomach.

"Damn it, I was two kills away from leveling up," House pouts and uses the remote to shut off the game.

"You sound like a thirteen year old," Cuddy says and sits next to House on the couch.

"Evil wench," House mutters under his breath, "and just now I was going to tell you that we have a dinner reservation at 6:30 for Salute's." Cuddy's eyes brighten; her fiancé is full of surprises today.

"I am going to go get ready, I assume you bribed my father into watching the kids tonight?"

"He told me that it was a nice thing to do, so naturally I did it," Cuddy rolls her eyes,

"Yeah that's you, Mother Theresa," House gives Cuddy a cheeky grin.

"After that stunt I pulled at the bridal shop you should be worshipping me at my feet,"

"That was sweet, thank you," Cuddy wraps her arms around House's neck and gives him a little peck. House in turn, grabs her ass and squeezes it. Cuddy sighs and allows House a quick grab before pulling away.

"Even Mother Theresa needed some ass every once in a while," House quips.

"I am going to go get ready; everyone is asleep upstairs if you want to watch your movie in peace." Cuddy takes the elevator back upstairs, does a check and confirms her theory that Kim and Arlene would pass out as soon as they got back. Cuddy could use a nap herself, but if she wants to shower before getting ready, a catnap isn't possible. Seeing that everyone is content for the time being, Cuddy slips into the shower unnoticed.

By six, Wilson and Kim leave with their boys, Kevin and Arlene are being given instructions by House on what to feed Emma and Ian for dinner, and Cuddy is slipping into a figure hugging grey DKNY dress.

"Don't let Emma tell you that we let her stay up until ten, it's not true. She is usually in bed at or before eight, after she watches some TV. Not anything violent or she won't want to go to sleep. Ian usually crashes around seven thirty; he likes to sleep with his baby blanket my mom made him." House instructs Arlene, who, for once, doesn't have a snappy comeback or insult. She quietly listens to House giving instructions with a grin on her face while nodding at the appropriate times. Once House is done he shouts up the stairs to Cuddy.

"Would you hurry up? Salute's closes at ten,"

"I'll be down in a second," Cuddy shouts back, and House immediately adds ten minutes onto what Cuddy just said. Sure enough, five minutes later Cuddy comes strolling out of the elevator with her hair naturally curly, just how House likes it. She is wearing silver Miu Miu stilettos and is carrying a light gray Gucci clutch.

"Great, let's go," House grabs his and her coat and rushes Cuddy out the door.

"What did you say to my mother when I was getting ready?" Cuddy asks.

"Nothing…"

"Then why was she smiling at you?"

"I have no clue, it was probably just gas," Cuddy laughs and swats House on the arm. House and Cuddy arrive at Salute's around 6:15 and are seated right away.

"Since I am paying, you can anything you want off the kids menu," House says as they peruse the menus.

"And they say chivalry is dead," Cuddy quips. The waiter comes over and they order a bottle of wine and two glasses of water.

"I think I am going to get the shrimp fettuccini," Cuddy says to the waiter. House glares at Cuddy, seeing as she ordered the most expensive thing on the menu just to tease him.

"For you sir?" The waiter asks House.

"I'll have the stuffed chicken marsala," House says and hands the waiter him and Cuddy's menus. Cuddy and House sit in comfortable silence, each sipping at their wine and looking around the restaurant.

"Did you tell Arlene that I picked that dress out for you?"

"No I figured you wouldn't want to hear how much of a sweetheart you are from my mother."

"Good, I would rather have her think of me as a man," Cuddy laughs.

"I think that she sees you as an ass who is trying to corrupt me,"

"That's even better," House winks at her.

"It's been a long time since we have done this, what gave you the idea to set this up?" Cuddy asks, although she knows that it was most likely Wilson's idea.

"Your father had this crazy idea that I needed to do something nice for you, "

"I am surprised you didn't take credit for it,"

"I will let your father have this one. He has earned it for putting up with your mother for all these years." Cuddy rolls her eyes. The food arrives and the couple chows down.

"I was thinking that we take your dress and the kids and head to Vegas to get married," House proposes. Cuddy furrows her brows in confusion, trying to decide if House is joking or being serious.

"I hope you are kidding," Cuddy says tentatively. House shrugs and shoves a giant bite of food into his mouth.

"House! We talked about this, I want an actual wedding not an elopement in Las Vegas."

"I know what we talked about; I just think that you have been so stressed out about the wedding crap that it would be easier to have our own private thing in Vegas. No stress needed," House says. Cuddy can't decide whether she is flattered by House's concern or irritated that he isn't listening to her.

"Greg, I appreciate your concern, but this is what I want. I have told you before that although planning a wedding is downright frustrating at times, it's worth it to me."

"Okay, I wasn't trying to rain on your parade Cuddy."

"I know you are trying, and it's really sweet," Cuddy puts her hand over his and squeezes it.

"If you are sure this is what you want, than I won't mention anything about eloping again,"

"I am sure,"

"Alright then, then we are getting married in July then," Cuddy holds up her wine glass for House to clink. They have a cheers and sip down the remainder of their wine.

Although House has agreed to put eloping out of his mind, Cuddy can't help but wonder what brought it up in the first place. Was he really trying to be sweet or trying to tell her that he doesn't want a wedding? Cuddy knows that House wouldn't have suggested a wedding four months ago if he wasn't ready, but that was a long time ago. Has he changed his mind since then?

"I paid _your_ bill, are you ready to go?" House breaks Cuddy out of her daze by waving her jacket in front of her face.

"Yeah, let's go home; I am sure my father has been waiting at the door with a shotgun in his lap." House wraps his arm around Cuddy and they walk out of the restaurant.

**A/N 2: Please review my latest chapter on your way out. Next chapter I am jumping ahead to late February where things get a little heated for our favorite couple. Also, I hope you enjoyed House's nice surprise for Cuddy, my uncle did that for my aunt for their wedding, it was so cute I just had to copy it. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, real life has gotten in the way. Thank you for all the reviews, they just make my day every single time. I am trying a new writing style just for this chapter, I hope you like it.**

**Chapter Four- Two Sides to Every Fight**

It's been two days. Two days since House left his own home to stay with Wilson. Two days since the biggest fight that House and Cuddy have ever had.

Four days earlier House barges into Cuddy's office after getting a page from her.

"What's up snookums? I told you not to page me for a quickie, it's pretty unprofessional." Cuddy looks up from her paperwork and glares at him.

"I actually paged you to talk about the wedding," Cuddy watches House's face fall,

"Were you actually hoping for a quickie?" Cuddy asks with a hint in laughter.

"Don't be ridiculous Cuddy, we are at work. What did you want to talk about _regarding work_?"

"I was hoping that you would come with me to pick out a place for our wedding reception,"

"Didn't we already decide on Hooters?" House asks playfully and spreads out on her office couch.

"No…you said you wanted Hooters and I said that you are insane. Which isn't far from the truth," House shrugs and twirls his cane in his hand.

"Fine, when do you want to go?"

"Way to sound enthusiastic House," Cuddy says sarcastically and grabs a new file.

"I will be doing a dance of joy as soon as my leg is healed,"

"Shut up, since I have no meetings after one, we can leave around one thirty." House nods and closes the door on his way out.

Three hours later House meets Cuddy in the lobby and they walk out together.

"Okay so where are we going?" House asks while driving Cuddy's Lexus.

"I called two banquet halls and set up tours. I can call more if we decide that we don't like these ones. However, the first one is on Fullerton Street," Cuddy says. House drives to the first location which is a Best Western located in the heart of Princeton.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I am the manager here at the Best Western." A short man with a beer belly holds out his hand for Cuddy to shake.

"Hi I am Lisa Cuddy and this is Greg House. We were considering having our wedding reception here," Cuddy shakes the man's hand and wraps an arm around House.

"Wonderful, let me show you the conference rooms we have," The manager shows House and Cuddy a conference room, but Cuddy was thinking more of a banquet hall type setting.

"What do you think of this one House?" Cuddy asks. House grunts,

"If you like it that's fine," House says. Cuddy frowns and shrugs it off.

"I think we should keep looking," House nods and they get back in the car.

"Where to next?" House asks.

"I set up a meeting at the Four Seasons,"

"That sounds expensive,"

"House! Can you be a little more excited?" House sighs and pulls into the Four Seasons parking lot.

"I will be excited when you finally decide on a place," House mumbles and follows her into the hotel.

"Shut up," Cuddy whispers and looks around for a manager.

"Hello, are you Ms. Cuddy?" A blonde woman looking eerily like Kim approaches the couple.

"Yes, this is my fiancé Greg House," House grunts at the woman, named Lacy, who is holding her hand out. Cuddy nudges him and House shakes the woman's hand.

"Okay, we have a conference room or a banquet hall. I think that the banquet hall would be better for a wedding reception."

"Can we look at both?" Cuddy asks. Lacy nods and leads the way to the conference room first. Cuddy grabs House's hand and squeezes it, urging him to play nice.

"We set up our conference rooms for business meetings primarily. I am sure you will find the banquet hall more suitable." House and Cuddy look around the room and House can tell this isn't what Cuddy wants.

"I think we are ready to see the banquet hall now," House says for the both of them.

"No problem," Cuddy and House go into the banquet hall. Half of the hall is set up with tables for a large group setting. The other half has a dance floor with a beautiful chandelier hanging over it.

"We have got to have our wedding reception here." Cuddy squeals and admires the décor.

"Okay, how much is this going to cost?" House asks the manager, reaching in his pockets for his wallet.

"House! We can talk about that in private," Cuddy says in a low voice.

"When is your wedding?" Lacy asks the couple and gets out a planner.

"July 12th,"

"That's about five months away, which is good. We have an opening for that day around two pm. If you would like to come to my office we can get the paperwork done," Cuddy nods and the manager gives the couple a moment alone.

"Is this where you want our reception to be?" Cuddy asks House.

"If this is where you want it, then its fine," Cuddy frustratingly sighs and they follow the manager into her office.

"Alright you guys are all set, I wish you guys luck," Lacy says after House and Cuddy pay and fill out some paperwork.

"Thank you for all your help Lacy, we really appreciate it." Cuddy shakes her hand.

"Thank you for choosing the Four Seasons to host your wedding reception. Here is my card and we will need to start discussing further preparations very soon." Lacy hands Cuddy her card and they all stand up. House, who has been quiet for the exchange, finally says something.

"Hopefully we aren't banging other people by the time this shindig goes down," Lacy's eyes expand to the size of hubcaps and Cuddy can't help but smile at House's vain attempt of humor.

"We will be leaving now," Cuddy grabs House's hand and pulls him out of the office.

"Bye Lucy!" House calls out.

When they arrive back at the hospital, Cuddy retreats into her office while House heads to his best friend's office instead of the clinic.

"Come on in House, I wasn't busy or anything," Wilson says sarcastically and points to House's favorite chair.

"Actually, I was saving you from doing annoying and boring paperwork so you're welcome." House plops down in the chair and starts whistling while Wilson signs his last file.

"I am surprised that you didn't make me buy you lunch today. Where were you?"

"I was doing boring useless wedding crap with Cuddy. I have no idea why you agreed to suffer through four weddings. I am only on my first and I am ready to elope to Vegas."

"I thought you and Cuddy agreed that you would stay out of the planning and I quote, 'show up in a penguin suit and say what I need to say to have you as my sex slave forever'".

"Yeah well, that has changed. However, you should be happy to know that I am trying to make it seem like I care about the flowers or ugly place settings or what color the groomsmen's gloves are,"

"Groomsmen have gloves?" Wilson asks.

"According to Cuddy they do. They are white by the way." Wilson can tell that House is happy, but still a little annoyed by something.

"You seem oddly troubled, care to share with the class?"

"Nope," House talks a bag of chips out of his pocket and begins munching on them loudly.

"House, if you aren't going to talk than get out of my office, I got a lot of work to do." House mocks Wilson's speech verbatim and stays put.

"When were scouting out places for our unnecessary wedding reception, Cuddy seemed more annoyed and stressed out than usual. This confuses me because I was there, relatively quiet and only made two comments about her ass and boobs."

"Only two, boy, you must be really impressed with yourself,"

"Damn right I am, especially with the outfit she was wearing today," House wolf whistles and wags his eyebrows mischievously.

"Have you, here is a crazy idea, talked to Cuddy and asked her if she was okay?" House sighs with disappointment and gives Wilson a look.

"If I ask her then she will tell me that either lie to me and tell me that she is fine or break down and complain about something I did. It's a lose-lose situation for me, so I would rather analyze from afar."

"Well, you can analyze from somewhere that isn't my office. I have given my free advice for the day so if you don't mind, I would like to get home to see my wife and kids."

"You used to be so much more fun," House whines and slowly stands up.

"And you used to have more hair, we all change a little bit," Wilson retorts. A smile chases across House's face as he slams the door behind him.

An hour later, Cuddy becomes bored by her paperwork and needs something to eat. She grabs a salad from the cafeteria downstairs and decides to visit Wilson. Without knocking, a trait that she has picked up from House, she walks into Wilson's office and sits down.

"House, you have changed," Wilson quips and puts his paperwork down.

"Sorry, I have been around my fiancé for too long,"

"That's okay; I really wasn't planning on getting any work done today. I am only here for show," Cuddy laughs and pours dressing onto her salad.

"Don't worry I won't be here for long, I just wanted your advice on something," Wilson notices the heightened worry lines on Cuddy's face and gives her his full attention.

"What's troubling you Cuddy?"

"It's regarding the wedding and House's involvement in it,"

"If you want him to not be a part of it, you can just tell him,"

"No it's not that. I want him to be helping me plan it, but I feel like when we were picking out a place for the wedding reception, he didn't care. Normally, I would write that off as House being House, but I want his input, it's his wedding too." Wilson is a little taken aback by Cuddy's revelation; he got a totally different interpretation of this afternoon from House.

"I think he is trying Cuddy, I mean after all he is House." Wilson tries to stick up for his best friend and reason with his best friend's fiancé.

"He isn't trying Wilson; he is acting like a child who doesn't get his way. Saying that he is just House being House isn't a good enough excuse."

"Have you tried telling him what you just told me?" Cuddy shakes her head no, which is what Wilson figured. House and Cuddy are alike in a lot of ways, they are both stubborn and don't like to say what they are really feeling.

"I am afraid that this isn't what he wants anymore," Cuddy almost whispers, as if saying it aloud would mess up everything they have worked for.

"Cuddy, I know you are scared, it's normal. My advice would be just for the two of you to just talk it out. I am sure House has some concerns of his own that he would like to talk to you about."

"Yeah, like he would ever tell me. Thanks Wilson for hearing me out, it helps."

"Anytime Cuddy," Cuddy leaves and Wilson is anxious about the problem brewing between the couple. He knows that neither one of them will say anything to each other because that's just how their relationship works. Wilson is more aware than anyone how much House loves Cuddy and vice versa, hopefully they will work it out.

Two days later and Wilson is still waiting for a knock at his door from House saying that Cuddy kicked him out or Cuddy calling in tears telling Kim all about their fight. So far, all is quiet which scares Wilson to death. House comes in around ten with Foreman meeting him at the lobby with an interesting case in his hand. Cuddy is busy making sure her hospital is running smoothly by working on this quarter's financial budgets. Today is the day that Cuddy and House get to pick out the food that will be served at their wedding. Cuddy hopes that this will go a lot smoother than when they scouted out places a few days earlier. Taking a short break, Cuddy takes the elevator up to House's office to remind them of their meeting.

"House, can I see you for a second?" Cuddy asks and points to House's private office. House takes the hint and pauses his differential to talk to Cuddy.

"Make it fast woman, I am in the diagnosing zone here,"

"I set up a meeting at four for us to pick out food for our reception."

"If Mrs…" House pauses to grab the patient file… "Duncan doesn't croak by then I will come."

"Fine, I'll text you the address later; I left it in my office," House nods and Cuddy turns to leave, but House stops her.

"You look amazing today," Cuddy beams and gives him a soft peck on the cheek.

"I meant Patty and Selma; the new water bra you bought last week is doing wonders for the twins," Cuddy glares at him and walks out with an extra swish of the hips for House. House wipes the dopey grin off his face and reenters his office, ready to diagnose another patient.

"Where were we?" House asks his ducklings.

"You were getting some from Cuddy," Chase says.

"What mommy and daddy do in the confines of their offices is none of your business. Now, symptoms," House barks and heads to the whiteboard with a marker in hand.

"Involuntary twitching and sudden irritability," Taub says for the team. House writes down the symptoms and looks to his 'ducklings' for ideas.

"I am going to say the obvious here and say that she has a movement disorder," Foreman says.

"Fine, get a MRI of her head and draw blood," House orders.

"It's going to be hard to get the imaging and blood we need with her moving around," Thirteen pipes up; she became quiet ever since the patient has come in.

"Give her Vecoronium to paralyze her," The team files out leaving House by himself.

Around three thirty Cuddy gathers up the files she is taking home and texts House the name of the restaurant they are meeting at.

"Thanks for covering for me Wilson, I shouldn't be gone long," Cuddy says to Wilson who is walking into her office.

"No problem, I figured I should actually do something useful today," Wilson jokes and sits down in Cuddy's chair.

"Is House meeting you there?" Wilson asks noticing that Cuddy is getting ready to leave.

"Yeah, I just texted him the address, I should go, thanks Wilson." Cuddy walks out of her office and drives to the place. Meanwhile, House is in deep thought when he hears his phone ring on the other side of the desk. His patient admits to being on fertility meds and tested negative for common movement disorders. Her MRI didn't show anything and she hasn't had any major symptoms since she has been admitted. House goes back to thinking without checking the text he assumes is from Cuddy.

Cuddy arrives at Luigi's, her and House's favorite restaurant. Carmine, the manager of the restaurant, shows Cuddy to a table and tells her that he needs to grab samples of the food. Cuddy checks her phone and it shows that it's about five minutes to four. She hasn't heard from House yet, but that isn't any surprise. He will probably barge in fifteen minutes late and insult her choices.

By five, House still hasn't come and Cuddy can tell the manager is becoming irritated. She goes ahead and picks out fettuccini with either shrimp or chicken for the main dish, a choice of salad or soup for the appetizer and New York Cheesecake or Tiramisu for desert. Cuddy apologizes on behalf of House and heads back to the hospital. House on the other hand, decides to send the patient home after discovering she has been taking her daughters Ritalin, but she ends up having a stroke in the lobby.

"Damn it, I really thought I solved that one," House says after he reconvenes his team in his office.

"Yeah, us too," Foreman says as House adds another symptom to the whiteboard.

"We have a neurological symptom with no neurological cause, ideas?" House asks the team who stare dumbfounded back at him.

"Well…the neurological symptoms could be disguising something else," Taub suggests.

"Paraneoplastic syndrome masking cancer, interesting…" House digresses, hoping one of his team members will pick up where he left off.

"She has been on fertility treatments for a while, those have been known to cause endometrial cancer," Thirteen says.

"We will go with that idea for now since none of you have anything better to contribute. I want a PCR test to check for cancer markers and an endometrial biopsy," House orders. The team goes to do what they are told and House goes home, knowing that the test he ordered will take a while to get results.

Cuddy arrives back at the hospital in a bad mood. She can't help but be a little pissed at House for not showing up to the meeting. The least he could do is act like a grown up and say he wasn't coming instead of making everyone else wait for an hour for him to show up.

"Hey Kim, can I talk to you for a second?" Cuddy asks her best friend and secretary.

"Sure," Kim follows her to the cafeteria where they sit in a booth towards the back.

"What's on your mind?" Kim asks as she is peeling her banana.

"House didn't show up to the meeting that I scheduled at Luigi's today."

"Oh, are you sure it wasn't some kind of misunderstanding?"

"I waited there for an hour and finally had to pick everything out myself."

"You don't seem surprised that House didn't show up which means there is something else that is on your mind," Kim analyzes.

"Damn, you are like House sometimes,"

"I have officially been corrupted by him, now spill,"

"It bothered me a little that he didn't show up, but he said that he had a case. Him not showing up just adds to my growing suspicion that he doesn't want this wedding anymore," Cuddy ends in almost a whisper, as if saying it out loud is too painful.

"Have you talked to House about this?"

"Not yet, I just wanted to ask someone else before I go to him,"

"Cuddy I am sure if you two talk about your wedding, it will solve everything. I am sure he has concerns of his own that he wants to share with you too," Kim says and throws away her banana in a nearby trash can.

"That is what your husband said too,"

"I am also being corrupted by him too. I never gave this good of advice before," Cuddy gives an appreciative smile to Kim and stands up.

"Talk to him Cuddy," Cuddy nods and they walk back to Cuddy's office.

House walks in the front door around five thirty, a half an hour later than he usually does.

"Daddy!" Emma yells from the living room couch and runs to hug House.

"Hey squirt, what are you up to?"

"Nuffin, just chillin'" House tickles her and Emma squeals.

"Where are Ian and Marina?"

"Ian is sweepin and Marina is readin'" Emma points upstairs.

"What do you want for dinner?" House asks her.

"Waffles," Emma says her new favorite food.

"How about pizza instead? We ran out of waffles this morning,"

"Waffles," Emma says.

"Stubborn girl…you get pizza or spinach." Emma makes a face and picks pizza, no surprise to House.

"Give Marina this," House hands Emma a twenty.

"Thanks Daddy!" Emma puts it in her pocket and walks back into the living room to watch some TV.

"Emma…" House says in a threatening dad voice. Emma bolts upstairs and is accompanied by Marina and Ian on the way back.

"Thanks, I see you tomorrow," Marina leaves and House orders pizza with half just cheese for Cuddy and Emma. Cuddy comes home at six thirty and House automatically knows that he is in trouble when Cuddy doesn't come over to kiss him like she does every day.

"Dinner is ready," House says to her and points to the pizza box.

"Okay, I need to feed Ian," House grabs plates for him and Emma while Cuddy gives Ian a little bit of a bottle and some squished carrots. Emma babbles incoherently like she usually does and House and Cuddy try to keep up with what she is saying. Ian joins in on the babbling leaving little time for the couple to talk about the big elephant in the room.

"I'll give Emma a bath," House says and picks Emma up, carrying her into the master bathroom. Cuddy bathes Ian in the downstairs bathroom and reads him a story while House watches a cartoon with Emma before both kids are put to bed. Cuddy retreats into the master bedroom with a new journal article while House watches TV in the living room. Deciding that the awkwardness won't fix itself, House makes the first move and heads into the master bedroom to talk to Cuddy.

"I can tell you are pissed, that wrinkle between your eyebrows hasn't gone away since you have been home," House sits on the foot of the bed and outstretches his other leg across the bed.

"You didn't show up for the meeting so I hope you like fettuccini," Cuddy says and puts down her article.

"I had a case, you knew that,"

"Couldn't you have called and said that you weren't coming instead of making me wait around for you?"

"Why don't we argue about what you really want to argue about? I know you aren't just mad at me for not showing up today,"

"Fine, you obviously don't seem to care about this wedding at all,"

"You are right I don't, but I am trying for you,"

"No, House, you aren't. You don't give a shit about anything regarding the wedding and I am sick of it."

"I never said I wanted this wedding anyway,"

"You are the most selfish, self centered, son of a bitch on the face of this planet! You said you wanted to marry me, what happened?"

"I said that I wanted a marriage Cuddy, not a wedding!" Cuddy is taken aback by House's confession. She takes a second before responding to think, is he really being selfish? Or is there another reason for him acting like this?

"You're scared, that's what this is…"

"I am not…" House tries to deny it, but Cuddy has already made up her mind.

"House, I am ready to get married, but I need to know that this is what you want. I think that we should be apart for a few days so we can both think about what we want." Cuddy takes the ring off her finger and hands it to House. House looks down at the ring in his hand with sadness and regret.

"Cuddy I…" House doesn't know what to say, he never wanted this.

"Greg, I know you love me and I know that you are honestly terrified. I can't force you into something you don't want to do. God knows I have tried over the years. Spend a few days at Wilson's or a hotel and decide what you want."

"I'll come by to see the kids after my case is solved. Just tell Emma that I have a case she is usually fine with that excuse," Cuddy feels tears prick at the corner of her eyes. This isn't what she wanted, but she has to know that House is one hundred percent sure he wants to marry her.

"Okay, I love you," Cuddy puts a hand on House's cheek and caresses it softly.

"I love you too," House says and kisses her forehead. He grabs a duffel bag lying on his closet floor and starts piling random clothes into it. "I'll be at Wilson's place,"

"Okay," House puts the ring back into a velvet box and throws it into his bag as well. Cuddy tries to ignore the fact that House has the engagement ring in his bag and focuses on holding it together until he leaves.

"I'm out; see you at work tomorrow," House closes the front door behind him and drives to Wilson's. Cuddy manages to hold on until she hears House's motorcycle fade away. She slowly sits down on the bed and can feel tears run down her cheeks.

"Mommy!" Emma says and tries to open the locked door.

"Shit…" Cuddy frantically wipes away tears from her face. She unlocks the door and unleashes her toddler into the room.

"What's wrong sweetie?" Cuddy asks. Emma ignores her mother's question and gazes around the room.

"Where Daddy go?" Emma asks innocently. Cuddy stops for a second, trying to explain this to a three year old. _ Should I go with, Daddy is trying to decide if he wants to be a family? Or Daddy left us and I don't know if he's coming back?_

"Daddy's patient is getting sicker. Daddy had to go to the hospital to make her all better. Do you want to sleep with me in my bed?" Emma eagerly nods, a rare opportunity in her short life. "Okay come on, climb up," Emma climbs into bed and is asleep within minutes.

House knocks on Wilson's door with a bag in his hand. Wilson answers the door, looks down at the duffel and opens the door wider to let House in.

"I take it you two talked," Wilson quips and follows House into the living room.

"We did, she said that I need to take a few days and decide if I want to marry her,"

"You are an idiot, go back there and beg for her to take you back,"

"Won't do any good, she will just think that I am just scared of losing her,"

"Aren't you?"

"Duh, but we don't have to be married to be together,"

"Not according to her,"

"Well, I am tired; I assume your brats are going to wake up early so I am going to bed," Wilson points to the guest bedroom already made up for him. House throws his bag on the floor and sits down on the bed. He digs through his bag until he stumbles across the box carrying the ring. House opens the box and plops the ring into his hand. He examines the ring up and down, hoping the answer is engraved into the inside of the ring.

"What the hell should I do?" House whispers to himself and sighs.

**A/N 2: BAM! I hope you got the point of this argument and not just assuming I am throwing in drama for the fun of it. Next chapter, House makes a decision and Cuddy's life gets turned upside down. I am being vague on purpose because I haven't exactly figured out what I am going to do yet. Reviews help! Have a great day/week/month/life**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I was planning on getting this story done before House ended, but that's not going to happen. I do ask that you guys stick with me through the end of this story, I only got six reviews last time. Thank you for your reviews and enjoy this next chapter.**

**Chapter Five-He Decides**

House held the ring in his right hand. It felt cold, so cold. He picked this ring out for the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with, or so he thought. Now, he threw a wrench into his own wedding, just like he thought he would. He theorized that after he left Cuddy broke down crying like she always did. She was too damn stubborn to cry in front of him. Tears would always pool in her beautiful grey eyes, but they would never fall, as if a dam was put there.

House looks at the inscription inside the ring saying, "love always," and can't help but remember the botched proposal two years ago. He was so angry at Cuddy for not showing up. Of course, he let his demons get in the away and came to the false conclusion that Cuddy didn't want to marry him when in fact, she accidently left her Blackberry on her desk when she stepped out. They reconciled, and he did an unexpected proposal while they were watching a movie on the couch a few days later.

Now, look where they are, two children and more than twenty years of history. Is this really the reason he wants to end their relationship? Out of fear? House knows that he would never abandon Emma and Ian but he doesn't want them to grow up thinking their parents were in a loveless marriage. His mom and John did it for over fifty years. House shudders at the thought of John and instinctively reaches inside the duffel bag for the bottle of bourbon he snuck out.

"This one is for you John," House whispers and takes a swig of alcohol. House rubs his leg and looks around Wilson's guest bedroom for his pills. He locates the bottle and pops some Vicodin, feeling instant relief.

Meanwhile, Cuddy is tossing and turning, trying not to disturb a sound asleep Emma beside her. A part of her is furious at House for being a child and not telling her is true feelings, a part of her is mad at herself for expecting House to, and another part of her is sad that they are in this situation in the first place. However, Cuddy is never one to feel sorry for herself, she feels extremely lucky to be in a relationship with the most incredible man she has ever known and to have two kids with him. Still, she can't stop the audible sobs that escape her. Her relationship with House might be over because she left it up to him to decide.

She knows that House loves her; she wouldn't deny that for a second. Loving someone and committing yourself to someone are two totally different things, though. Cuddy needs to know that House is willing to do that. God forbid they drag Emma and Ian through a divorce five or ten years down the road when they would actually understand what's going on. The mere thought of divorce causes Cuddy to cry more, making Emma waken slightly.

"Mommy?" Emma whispers to Cuddy. Cuddy wipes her eyes and smiles softly at her daughter.

"Emma?" Cuddy whispers back.

"Why you cryin?" Emma questions. Cuddy jokingly curses Emma's perceptiveness. Her three year old, even while sleeping can pick up on someone else's feelings.

"Mommy's sad sweetie, but I'll be happier if you go back to sleep," Cuddy says honestly, not in the mood to argue with her stubborn daughter.

"Kay, don't worry, be happy," Emma turns over and faces the wall sending ebony ringlets flying into Cuddy's face. Cuddy rubs Emma's back for a few seconds before turning over and facing the other wall. She silently wishes that House will want to marry her so they can officially become a family.

The next day, the alarm clock blares in Wilson's guest bedroom. This is the first time House has used an alarm clock, besides the one Cuddy sets, in about ten years. Usually, he gets up with Emma and Ian about eight or rarely, he gets to sleep in until ten or eleven. House groans and shuts it off, almost convincing himself to fall back asleep. However, he has a case and he doesn't want to have Cuddy on his ass the second he walks in for being late or not doing his clinic duty.

He pops a Vicodin, jumps in the shower, gets dressed and is ready to go at eight thirty. House walks out of the bedroom and into Wilson's kitchen. He heads off on his motorcycle without saying anything to Wilson's nanny or kids. To everyone's shock, including Cuddy's, House limps into PPTH at nine on the dot. Cuddy knows better than to say anything to House and instead, walks back into her office, shutting the door behind her. House can't help but smirk at the poorly concealed look of shock on Cuddy's face.

"Your brats are annoying," House says as he barges into Wilson's office. Wilson looks at his watch, looks at House and then back down at his watch again.

"I think my watch is broken. Are you actually here on time?" House nods and snatches Wilson's blueberry muffin off the desk.

"Hey I was about to…"Wilson stops, there is no point in saying anything because House is just going to eat it anyway.

"No, you were about to apologize for your spawns for waking me up three times last night," House says with his mouthful of Wilson's muffin.

"Who actually had to get up those three times?"

"You probably made the poor whale get up and tend to your offsprings,"

"Of course not, that's what you make Cuddy do,"

"Oh snap," House and Wilson high five each other.

"Speaking of Cuddy," House groans loudly.

"Here we go…."

"Have you talked to her yet?"

"No and before you ask, the reason I am here early is to get Cuddy off my ass. If I show up early and do my clinic duty like I am supposed to, she has no reason to come and yell at me. Although, it is sexy to see her all riled up like that, but she won't let me touch her so the point is moot."

"You are one sad man,"

"That may be, but at least I am one charming and handsome man," Wilson chuckles and shakes his head. House gets a page and sighs,

"Sorry Wilson, I will have to reschedule our therapy session, my team has done something stupid again," House slams the door behind him and walks across the hall into his own office.

"What did you morons do?" House asks his team who are seated around the conference table, waiting for him to begin the differential.

"We did an endometrial biopsy and the patient hemorrhaged. The source of the blood wasn't the fallopian tubes though, an ultrasound revealed a tumor in her liver." Thirteen updates House who grows more and more interested in the case as the symptoms worsen.

"Hmm…" House mumbles and turns to the whiteboard to think.

"Well, the patient didn't take enough Ritalin to damage the liver, she obviously isn't an alcoholic because there isn't any cirrhosis. I don't know what else would fit her symptoms." Chase thinks out loud.

"The flailing has decreased significantly," Taub says enthusiastically. House cocks his head slightly to the right and narrows his eyes, and Foreman knows that he has solved the case.

"She is on birth control pills," House announces and turns around to see the team's reaction.

"In case you missed the last few days, she has been on fertility meds for over a year," Thirteen says.

"Exactly, which should have worked by now. Think about it, we know she can have kids, she has Sarah…"

"Stella," Chase chimes in,

"Whatever, my point is that she tries to be perfect for everyone, so much so that she needs Ritalin to make it through her day. What if she doesn't want another kid, but is too scared to tell her second husband out of fear that she will need to start looking for a third husband?" The team takes a minute to ponder what House has just told them.

"She is never going to consent to the surgery if she knows what it's for. She would rather lie and keep taking the birth control," Foreman hypothesizes.

"Probably, which is why one of you needs to go explain it to Cuddy, she will never give us the go ahead until we explain to her that if our patient chooses to be stupid, she will die. What kind of doctors would we be if we didn't do everything to prevent that?" House asks sardonically.

"Wait, one of us needs to go tell Cuddy? Are you two fighting again?" Foreman asks House.

"Apparently, little Greg didn't perform as well as he should have last night, so Cuddy's sexually frustrated. I have to save up all my energy for tonight, so, while I am sitting on my ass, you can go explain to Cuddy why my patient needs this surgery." House points his cane at Thirteen.

"Why me?" Thirteen asks.

"Cuddy is more likely to say yes to a woman about a woman's issue. She is a firm believer in all that feminist crap. Now run along and convince my pissed off fiancé why we should ruin our patient's second marriage." Thirteen looks to the other members of the team for help and then to House, whose decision is unwavering.

"Fine, send Foreman in for reinforcement," Thirteen mutters and starts walking out.

"Don't forget to play the 'I am dying of Huntington's card' Cuddy will do anything for dying people," House calls after her.

"I can't hear you," Thirteen mouths from the other side of the glass. House manages a miniscule grin and looks to his other team members who are staring at him.

"What?" House barks at them.

"We were just wondering what you wanted us to do?" Taub asks.

"Either patrol the ER for a new case or do something out of Cuddy's eyesight. I honestly do not care which." House pops three Vicodin and walks into his office, stopping to turn on the TV before he sits down in his ottoman.

Thirteen bypasses Kim who is on the phone and knocks on Cuddy's office door. Cuddy waves Thirteen in and wonders why she is here.

"We need your consent to do a surgery," Cuddy is disappointed that House sent Thirteen down here to get approval, it's ten times more fun when he does it.

"Okay, what's the official diagnosis?"

"House thinks that the patient's liver tumor is caused by her taking fertility meds and birth control pills at the same time. We want to remove the tumor, test it and possibly recommend further treatment." Cuddy furrows her eyebrows in confusion,

"House actually seems to have a valid diagnosis this time, why are you coming to me for consent?" Thirteen is a little perplexed as to why Cuddy doesn't see the issue here,

"Well the patient is going to deny that she is on birth control pills in front of her husband and insist on us finding some other way to explain it. House thought it would be wise to skip to the end,"

"Ah…well, you have my consent to do the surgery," Thirteen nods and turns around to leave.

"Thirteen?" Cuddy asks as Thirteen's hand is on the doorknob.

"What?" Thirteen turns back around and faces her boss' fiancé.

"How is he?" Cuddy asks. Thirteen is about to deflect, a skill she has mastered after working under House for so long, but she can't. The genuine concern on Cuddy's face touches her in an indescribable way. _Better just go with the truth and deal with the wrath of House later,_ Thirteen thinks to herself.

"He is popping a lot of Vicodin and is in more pain, but he is still House." Cuddy bites her lip and the worry line between her brows is heightened, but Thirteen leaves before Cuddy can say anything back to her. Thirteen admires and even envies House and Cuddy's relationship, but that's exactly what it is-House and Cuddy's. She learned a long time ago that House can get in your business, but you can't get in his.

Cuddy can't seem to focus on the budget report in front of her. The numbers bleed together until she just decides to close the Word document and shut off her computer. Before she realizes what she is doing, Cuddy is dialing Wilson's office extension.

"James Wilson," Wilson answers in a professional manner.

"Hey Wilson, its Cuddy,"

"What can I do for you Cuddy?"

"Can you do me a favor and look after House? I am sure he has told you all about what is going on between us. I just want to make sure he is..." Cuddy struggles to find the right word, "House?" Wilson chuckles,

"Sure, I'll buy him a reuben at lunch today. Are you okay? You sound a little tired,"

"Ian had a bad dream last night and wouldn't go back to bed, that's all," Cuddy lies, not wanting to tell Wilson that she spent half the night crying over something she has no control over.

"Okay, bye Cuddy," Wilson hangs up, clearly not buying Cuddy's lie.

Around noon, Wilson heads across the hall to House's office. He expects to hear the TV blaring or a differential being run, but becomes concerned when House and his team are nowhere in sight. Wilson checks the usual spots and discovers House doing clinic duty…odd.

"You showing up early and doing clinic duty, clearly this is a sign of the apocalypse," Wilson jokes.

"Don't believe the hype Wilson, our sorry asses will still be here in 2013," House says while returning a file to the nurses' station.

"Can I tear you away from clinic duty to buy you a reuben?"

"Check with nurse Ratchet," House says and points to Brenda who sneers at him.

"Please get him out of here; he is scaring all the patients away,"

"How would you know? You and Nurse Jeffery went all _Grey's Anatomy _on me and disappeared into a supply closet," Nurse Brenda blushes and hands a file to another doctor. House and Wilson exit the clinic and walk into the cafeteria. They grab their own respective lunches, with Wilson paying of course, and sit in their booth towards the back.

"So why were you doing clinic duty voluntarily?"

"I am turning over a new leaf, I think I will start wearing my hair differently from now on," House says and tousles his hair.

"Seriously, I'll go talk to Cuddy," House narrows his eyes and pops a Vicodin,

"Fraternizing with the enemy, you wouldn't dare!" House drops the charade when he sees Wilson start to get angry.

"I am doing it for the same reason I showed up early this morning. Cuddy is less inclined to be a pain in the ass if I am actually doing what I am supposed to."

"She hasn't said anything to you at all today?" Wilson asks.

"Nope, and I intend to keep it that way," Wilson tries not to wince when he sees House dry swallow two more Vicodin, way more than the recommended dose.

"Well, you keep it up while I go check on my patients,"

"Of course, where those dying cancer patients be without their trusty oncologist?" Wilson ignores House and exits the cafeteria. Wilson makes sure that House isn't following him and he makes a detour into Cuddy's office.

"Is she busy?" Wilson asks Kim.

"I don't think so, but she wanted to be left alone today," Kim cautions Wilson.

"I'll be quick," Wilson knocks on the door and Cuddy waves him in.

"Did you guys have lunch?" Cuddy asks.

"Yeah, after I pulled him out of the clinic," This is news to Cuddy, the last she heard House was in Coma Guy's room playing a stolen video game from the pediatric ward.

"He was doing clinic duty? Voluntarily?" Cuddy asks in shock.

"I know it's weird, right?"

"How is he?"

"He was popping Vicodin and seemed to be in pain, but none that he would discuss, obviously," Cuddy sighs, Wilson and Thirteen's reports seem to coincide.

"Alright, keep an eye out; let me know if anything changes,"

"You know that you could talk to him…"Wilson suggests.

"No, I don't want him to be influenced by me in anyway. If he needs time, than I will give him time. I intend to give him all the space he needs, whether it deals with work or our personal business," Cuddy says stubbornly. Wilson throws his hands up in a classic Wilson gesture and backs away.

"Okay, I will keep you apprised," Cuddy smiles and Wilson walks out. House spends the rest of his afternoon completing his clinic duty, throwing spitballs at the janitor, and watching reruns of _Prescription Passion_. Finally, at five, House calls it a day. He carefully sneaks past Cuddy's office to check to see if she is still there. Satisfied that she is in the middle of something, House decides to visit Emma and Ian before going back to Wilson's.

"Daddy!" Emma cries and races over to her father. Ian crawls behind her, equally excited to see their father.

"Hi guys," House is truly excited to see his kids. He has only seen them sporadically since he has been crashing at Wilsons.

"Daddy, I make a picture," Emma says and runs over to the coffee table to retrieve it. House picks Ian up and gazes around, trying to locate Marina.

"Emma where's Marina?" House asks, wondering if the kids have been home by themselves all day.

"She in kitchen, look," Emma gives House a card with, what looks like a stick figure holding a cane in its right hand.

"Thank you Emma," House sets the card by his jacket. Marina comes into the living room wielding a spatula.

"Oh, Mr. House, Ms. Cuddy didn't tell me you were coming for dinner,"

"I'm not, I just wanted to stop by and see the kids before Cuddy got home," Marina arches an eyebrow in confusion, but doesn't comment on her employers relationship. She simply mutters something in Spanish and returns to the kitchen.

"Daddy, why not stay?" Emma asks with confusion. House was hoping Emma didn't pick up on that, but she is his child after all.

"I have to help Uncle Wilson at his house tonight so I can't stay for dinner," House explains. Emma takes a second to think it over and nods. All of the sudden, House hears the garage door open and close. _Shit, I didn't plan on Cuddy being home this early_, House thinks to himself.

"Mommy!" Emma yells and runs to her mother. Cuddy picks up Emma and says hi to Marina.

"Daddy here," Emma says. Cuddy looks at her with doubt, but gets confirmation from Marina. She walks into the living room where House put down Ian in front of the TV and is now gathering his stuff to leave.

"You don't have to leave, I wanted to shower and change before dinner anyway, so you can play with the kids." Cuddy says. House puts down his cane and jacket in surrender,

"Fine, but I am not staying for dinner,"

"No one asked you to," Cuddy says and disappears into the master bedroom, trying not to pretend that their awkward encounter wasn't killing her.

"Yay daddy stay!" Emma claps her hands together and Ian copies her.

"Only for a little bit," House warns her, aware of how excited she can get. Emma ignores her and starts dragging out random toys.

"Here," Emma hands House a baby doll. House makes a face and Emma just laughs. Cuddy hears Emma's cheerful laugh in the living room and almost decides to join her children and House out there. She puts her hand on the door knob and freezes. If she goes out there, House will just find an excuse to leave. Damn it, why does this have to be so difficult? Cuddy feels a tear roll down her cheek. She wipes it away in anger and jumps into the shower.

Twenty minutes later, Cuddy is feeling slightly better and rejoins everyone in the living room. House is in the middle of playing tea party with Emma and Ian.

"Here mommy, you sit next to daddy," Emma hands Cuddy a tea cup and points next to House.

"Actually, now that mom's back, I have to go. Give me a hug," House hugs Emma and Ian. Cuddy isn't surprised, this is exactly what she knew was going to happen.

"I'll be right back kids, I have to tell your dad something," Cuddy says and sets her tea cup on the carpet. House looks at her with a warning glance, not really in the mood to argue tonight.

"If you are going to stop by, at least have the decency to tell me," Cuddy whispers to House by the front door.

"It was a spur of the moment type thing, it won't happen again," House says and hangs his head. Cuddy feels an overwhelming sense of sadness wash over her. She doesn't mean to scold House, but she can't help it.

"I'm sorry, House. They are your kids too, I didn't mean to tell you what to do," Cuddy apologizes and looks down at the floor.

"Cuddy, I know you are frustrated with me, but give me two more days, you won't regret it." House doesn't say anything else, and shuts the door behind him. Cuddy slightly perks up at House's statement. Knowing him, he probably has something up his sleeve. Two more days and she will find out what it is.

Cuddy puts the kids to bed and calls up Kim, the only person that knows what is going on between her and House, but isn't on House's side.

"Hey Cuddy, what's going on?" Kim asks.

"Nothing, House stopped by earlier to see the kids and…" Cuddy breaks off, her throat closing and her eyes filling with tears.

"Oh Cuddy…" Kim says and feels sad for her best friend.

"I know that House and I agreed to be apart for a while, but it hurt so much when Emma asked why her dad wasn't staying." Cuddy wipes away tears and takes a deep breath, forcing herself to stop crying and finish talking to Kim.

"Has House said anything about the wedding?"

"No, he said that he needs two more days to put something together, but nothing else."

"Well, that's good then, isn't it?"

"With House, you never know,"

"Hang in there Cuddy,"

"Bye Kim," Cuddy hangs up the phone and climbs into bed. She looks over at the empty side and wishes House is there with her. Being alone in bed is the thing she hates most when her and House get into their stupid fights. As cheesy as it sounds, she loves the feeling of House's arm wrapped around her while sleeping. They start at opposite sides of the bed, but end up cuddled together by morning.

Now, Cuddy is alone. Four years ago, before House, Ian and Emma ever came into her life; she gave up on the fact of ever having children and some to come home to. She finally gets used to having a family and it could all be taken away from her. Of course, she will always have her kids, but she will miss the constant banter, the games they play with each other, and most importantly, him. Who knows, two days from now, he could be here with her and the anxiety she feels could disintegrate. Cuddy allows herself to block all of those painful thoughts out of her mind, and slowly drift off to sleep.

Another day goes by just like the previous ones, after House left. Cuddy and House go to work, trying to avoid each other at all costs. House goes to Wilson's and Cuddy goes back to their place, trying to come up with new excuses as to why House isn't there. Then they both fall asleep in separate places, thinking about each other.

A day later, Cuddy is busy working when her blackberry buzzes on the desk. She scoops it up and smiles when it is a text from House. She misses the random stuff he sends her throughout the day, no matter how dirty and inappropriate, they always manage to cheer her up.

**Dinner at Delilah's at 7. Try to look presentable and meet me there.**

** -H.**

Cuddy slightly grins while reading House's text. She has a feeling that House is going to purpose to her…again, but like she said last night to Kim, you never know with House.

House shoves his phone into his pocket after sending Cuddy a text. He has his evening all planned out, except he thinks he is forgetting something. _Got the flowers, the ring, the restaurant and a semi-wrinkled shirt, what else could I be forgetting? Oh shit! The kids! What am I going to do with Emma and Ian? Time to mooch off of Wilson._

"Oh Wilson!" House calls as he enters his best friend's office.

"You seem to be in a better mood? I take it your three day long hangover has finally subsided."

"You are just so funny," House says sarcastically. Wilson rolls his eyes and patiently waits for House to say why he is here.

"I need you to watch the kids tonight, Cuddy and I are going out," Wilson perks up at House's statement and immediately agrees.

"What do you have planned for your evening with Cuddy?"

"There is no way I am telling you, unless I want it all over the hospital by lunch. Cuddy will call Kim up later and tell her what I did so you can find out then."

"Just tell me if it's a good or bad thing that you two are going out,"

"Depending on how Cuddy takes it, I might get lucky tonight," Wilson squeals like a little girl and dances in his chair.

"You will never get lucky again if you do that in front of Kim," House says and walks out.

Around three, Cuddy is in the middle of finding a dermatology resident when her office phone rings. Cuddy throws her pen down and picks up the phone.

"This is Lisa Cuddy speaking,"

"Hey Cuddy it's Kim," Kim waves at Cuddy from her desk right outside of Cuddy's office.

"What's up?"

"Your mother is on the other line, I was just wondering if you wanted me to tell her you were in a meeting," Cuddy heavily sighs into the phone,

"No, if you tell her that she will keep calling until I pick up," Kim laughs,

"Okay hold on let me connect you," There is silence at the other end, making time for Cuddy to run through her conversation with her mother. _Okay, five minutes, that's all I am allowing. She will ask about the wedding, I will lie and say that it's going great. She will ask about House and I will say that he is great, even though that's a lie. Then she will mention something about Julia and I will be fake excited. She will insult me and then I will find an excuse to hang up. Good? Great. _

Kim connects her to Arlene and Cuddy becomes annoyed when she hears sniffling and muffled voices in the phone. She taps her nails on the desk and waits for someone to come on the other end.

"Lisa?" Julia asks into the phone. Cuddy becomes concerned; Julia sounds frightened.

"Julia? What's going on? Where's mom?" Julia lets out a breath and Cuddy hears her say something to Arlene. Cuddy finishes her conversation with Julia and dials House's office extension right away. Foreman picks up and hands the phone to House.

"House, can you come down here please?" Cuddy says trying desperately to keep the emotion out of her voice. House is surprised that Cuddy is breaking their no talking agreement, it must be pretty important.

"Sure, I'll be right there," House and Cuddy hang up their phones and Cuddy waits for him to come down, all the while wiping tears from her eyes. In true Housian fashion, Cuddy sees House use a cane to open the door.

"If you are breaking our no talking policy to ask for sex, I approve," House says as he enters Cuddy's office. Cuddy looks up at House with tears streaking down her face and House loses his joking tone.

"What happened?"

"I was talking to my mother…"

"Oh god...here we go," House says and receives a death glare from Cuddy in response.

"My dad's dead," Cuddy says and bursts into tears. House walks over to her office chair and wraps an arm around her.

"How?"

"Aortic dissection, there was nothing they could have done," Cuddy doubles over sobbing and House rubs her back. He doesn't say anything, for fear of saying the wrong thing. After Cuddy's sobs dwindle, she goes to the bathroom to wipe the mascara streaks off her face. When she comes out, she plops down on the couch. House sits down next to her and brings her close.

"I love you, and I will go with you to the funeral," House says.

"I love you too and thank you. Can I take a rain check on dinner?" House nods and wipes away a few more tears from Cuddy's face.

"Can I take you home?" House asks, not really caring about their wedding issues right now. Cuddy nods, grateful that House is there for her. Cuddy takes a few minutes to get herself together at least for the time being and the couple head home.

**A/N 2: Longest. Chapter. Ever! Please review, they really help with the writing process. I want to hear your thoughts on my story and ideas for future chapters. Next chapter, House and Cuddy go to her father's funeral and House makes his decision. Thanks for reading and reviewing!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: As always, thank you so much for all of your reviews. I appreciate the fact that people give me feedback about this story. To give you an idea of where I am at, there are about five or six chapters left of WGTBO. This chapter takes place in late February, early March, Ian is 10 months and Emma is three. I hope you enjoy this latest chapter.**

**Chapter Six- The F Word**

House and Cuddy leave the hospital together for the first time in a week. To the people they pass by, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but for House and Cuddy, it's huge. They have barely spoken to each other the past few days and now everything has changed. Cuddy's dad is dead and Cuddy is a mess. House is willing to push all of his own issues to help his…girlfriend? Fiancé? Ex-fiancé? He had no clue now what she is to him. What he does know is he loves her and is willing to help her through what is going to be a difficult week for her.

House reaches over and grabs Cuddy's hand as they are walking out. Cuddy looks up at House for a clue as to what he is feeling, but his face is cold, unchanging. Cuddy focuses her eyes ahead, trying to locate her Lexus. The couple climbs in and House takes them home.

"Mommy!" Emma exclaims and runs to her mother who steps into the house first.

"DADDY!" Emma yells and hugs her father next. Emma has been getting used to seeing her mother at night and her father intermittently.

"Dr. House?" Marina asks as she is carrying Ian. Ian semi-waves at House and Cuddy as he is being handed over to his mother.

"Hi Ian," Cuddy says and waves a stray hair out of his eyes. Ian reaches over to House and Cuddy passes him off. House takes a twenty out of his pocket and hands it to Marina who leaves.

"Who wants pizza for dinner?" House asks, knowing that Cuddy isn't going to be in the mood to cook.

"Yay! I love you daddy!" Emma says and hugs House's legs. That did it for Cuddy, and she bursts into tears. House puts Ian down and brings Cuddy closer to him. Cuddy is torn between keeping it in to protect Emma and Ian or letting it out to feel better. House looks over to their kids. Ian is totally oblivious and playing with his new truck. Emma is standing there watching Cuddy with concern marring her cherub face. Cuddy separates herself from House and wipes her eyes.

"What's wrong mommy?" Emma asks and sits down on the couch next to House and Ian.

"Emma, your grandpa died today," Cuddy whispers because saying it out loud is still too painful. Emma doesn't react at all, unaware as to what the word "died" means. Cuddy looks to House and furrows her eyebrows. _How do I explain the intricacies of death and dying to my three year old?_

"Emma, your grandpa's heart doesn't work anymore," House explains in the simplest terms he can think of.

"Daddy, you are a doctor, you can fix gandpa!" Emma says with excitement. House sighs,

"I know Emma, but I wasn't your grandpa's doctor. Your grandpa's doctor couldn't fix him. Sometimes in daddy's job, you can't always get somebody better." House wishes that Emma could grow up in a perfect world and that nothing bad will ever happen to her. However, House knows better than anyone that the universe is cruel and never fair. People like Cuddy's father and Amber shouldn't die while cruel, unkind people live on.

"Why?" Emma squeaks as her blue eyes fill with tears.

"I don't know Emma," House answers honestly. Emma crawls into her dads lap and lies there for a couple minutes.

"I'll order the pizza," Cuddy says, grabs the phone and takes Ian into the master bedroom with her.

"Daddy?" Emma asks when Cuddy leaves the room.

"What Emma?"

"I don't have any gandpa's anymore," Emma states. House didn't know how to respond to that, in Emma's short three years she has lost both of her grandfathers. House is thankful that Emma was too young to understand what was happening when John died. Even more so that Emma didn't comprehend a word of his bastardogy. Now that Cuddy's father is dead, House knows that it's going to affect Emma more. For one, she is older and two, Emma is slightly closer to Cuddy's father than John. John never was a hands on grandparent with House's kids, never showed Emma an ounce of affection. Kevin Cuddy on the other hand, cared deeply about Emma and Ian and was happy to spend any time he had available with his grandchildren.

"No Emma, you don't and I am sorry. But you know what? You still have both grandmas!" House says, as if that is something to celebrate. Arlene clearly favors Julia's kids over Cuddy's and Emma hardly ever sees Blythe. Not that House blames his mother for it; it's getting hard for Blythe to travel. Emma perks up a little bit at this realization and smiles at House. Cuddy and Ian come out of the master bedroom and sit down on the couch.

"What did you two talk about?" Cuddy asks, noticing that Emma is a little happier than she was before.

"It's a secret," House says and winks at Emma who winks back.

"Pizza will be here in about ten minutes," Cuddy says. House nods and turns on the TV, allowing everyone to concentrate on something else than Cuddy's father dying.

Dinner goes by somewhat quieter than usual, just Ian babbling as he usually does. House does notice that Cuddy barely touches her veggie pizza, only nibbling on the one piece she grabbed to begin with. _Tonight is not the night to piss her off House, just leave it be for now. _House thinks to himself as he is putting Ian to bed. Cuddy puts Emma to bed across the hall and then the couple takes the elevator downstairs, walking hand in hand into their own bedroom. They each get ready for bed separately and then lie in bed together.

"Thank you House for being here today," Cuddy whispers and kisses House lightly on the lips.

"I was hoping I could give you sympathy sex," House deflects and nibbles on Cuddy's shoulder blade.

"As fun as that sounds, I am going to have to say no," Cuddy says and gently pushes House off of her. House fake pouts and then becomes serious.

"You are going to have a hard week ahead of you," Cuddy nods and wonders where House is going with this.

"I know…" Cuddy trails off,

"And I want you to know that I'll try to be there as much as I can. But, this has no influence on the wedding. You aren't getting an answer from me until after the funeral, okay?" Cuddy nods her head and relaxes a little. Cuddy snuggles a little closer to House and feels herself starting to drift off.

"So the no to the sex is temporary? Or was that a no for just tonight?" House asks.

"Goodnight House," Cuddy says in response. House grins,

"Goodnight Cuddy."

The next three days are hard for Cuddy. She barely eats or sleeps, but hasn't cried since the first day. Instead of crying, Cuddy does the only thing she knows how to do when everything else hits the fan, which is work. She distracts herself with twelve hour days and back to back meetings. Each night she hasn't been coming home until nine at night. House is worried, but he knows that working is the only thing holding Cuddy together right now. Eventually she will get it out of her system and go back to coming home at six.

House stops by Wilson's office on his way home one day to get his best (and only) friend's advice on how to handle the Cuddy situation.

"What can I do for you House?" Wilson notices the heightened worry lines on House's face.

"Cuddy's father died three days ago," House tells Wilson.

"Wow, was it expected?" House shakes his head no.

"Damn…how is Cuddy doing?"

"She seems okay, but she hasn't been home a lot the past few days. I think she is using work as a distraction for not dealing with her grief."

"You sounded like me there for a second,"

"I know it was a little scary. I don't know how to handle this; I am no good with dealing with deaths in the family. Do you remember John's funeral?" House had a point, he doesn't deal with grief well. He went completely off the rails when John died, luckily Cuddy was there to help him through it.

"Just remember House, this isn't about you, this is about Cuddy." House rolls his eyes, and mumbles something incoherent. Wilson ignores him and goes on,

"Let her get the working constantly thing out of her system and try to get her to talk about her father. She will feel better."

"Talking about what is making her sad isn't going to make her happy; it's going to make her sadder. Just like talking about her father's death isn't going to make him less dead."

"You should really consider going into grief counseling, it will do wonders for you."

"Well, I am right, Cuddy isn't going to want to talk about it."

"So, you aren't going to do anything to help her?"

"Of course not Jimmy, I don't want to get stabbed. I will follow your advice for once, and try to get her to work through her grief. However, if she becomes all weepy and mopey, I am dropping her off at your house." House doesn't wait for a response from Wilson and leaves.

Meanwhile, Cuddy is in the middle of interviewing a new pediatric fellow when the phone rings.

"Excuse me for a second," Cuddy says to the young applicant and picks up the phone.

"Dr. Cuddy,"

"Hey Lisa, I have your mother on the other end, is this a bad time?" Kim asks with concern. Kim has been keeping a close on Cuddy ever since Cuddy completely broke down a few days ago.

"Yes, tell her I will call her back in twenty minutes," Cuddy says and hangs up. She knows Arlene is going to want to talk about her father's funeral and Cuddy doesn't want to talk about private family matters in front of complete strangers.

"So, I see you did a rotation at the Mayo Clinic…" Cuddy says and smiles, encouraging the young doctor to elaborate.

Arlene, not liking being ignored by Cuddy, decides to go to the next best thing. She dials House's cell phone her daughter gave her in case of an emergency and waits for House to pick up.

"Thank you for calling House's House of Whining, please state your complaint," House says into the phone.

"Yes, will you please tell my daughter that she needs to rip herself away from her heart attack inducing job and pick up the damn phone?" Arlene asks.

"Ah…it seems I am playing Cuddy's secretary today. What can I do for you almost mommy in law?"

"Would you tell her that the funeral is on Sunday at the old church? She will know which one I am talking about." Arlene's voice cracked a little, causing House to feel empathetic.

"Are you okay?" House asks with as much concern as he could muster.

"Of course you schmuck, I just got something in my throat. Just relay my message to_Lisa_, and I will see you guys Sunday," Arlene hangs up, leaving House a little shocked. In that short conversation, House could tell where Cuddy got her denial and avoidance from. Throwing down his half eaten reuben, he decides to pay a little visit to Cuddy.

"Satan called me," House says as he is walking into Cuddy's office. Cuddy furrows her eyebrows and looks to House for an explanation.

"Your mother, gosh Cuddy, get with it. Anyway, the funeral is on Sunday in Boston."

"Did she say where in Boston the funeral is?" Cuddy asks.

"She was rambling on about how you would know what church it's being held in or something, I have no idea. Are we taking both of the kids with us or just Emma?"

"I think that it will be good for Emma to say goodbye to her grandfather. With your da…I mean John's funeral, Emma was too young to understand what was going on."

"Fine with me if we take the rugrat, but what are we going to do with the other one?"

"Shit, I didn't think about that. I wonder if Marina could watch him for the night." House makes a face at Cuddy.

"Ian would get so fat from Marina's tortilla soup if she stayed with him overnight. Why don't we call Wilson and make him take Ian?"

"House, we always ask Wilson to babysit,"

"Cuddy, Wilson isn't useful for much else. Plus, he can't say no to me," Cuddy rolls her eyes.

"Why don't you go bug Wilson? I got stuff to do if I want to be home in time for dinner."

"I was already on my way out drama queen,"

"Right, you were going to stay here until five if I didn't kick you out,"

"No I wasn't unless you want to have sex on top of your desk," Cuddy deviously smiles and walks around her desk, facing House.

"What are you doing?" House asks. Cuddy climbs onto the top of her desk and opens her legs. House can feel his pants starting to get tighter and he slowly walks towards Cuddy. Cuddy wraps her arms around House's waist and nibbles on his ear. House moans and Cuddy decides to make her move.

"In. Your. Dreams." Cuddy whispers and pushes House off of her.

"You manipulative bitch," House says and tries to hide his erection with his suit jacket.

"That's why you love me, now go."

"I will after you fix this problem," House points down to his crotch.

"Just think of Foreman in a bikini," House waits a few seconds and walks out the door, heading straight back to Wilson's. House tries to open Wilson's office door, but it is locked. House peeks under the door and sees that the lights are still on inside.

"I know you are in there," House says while knocking on the door, "I can hear you caring."

"Damn it," Wilson gets up and unlocks the door, letting House into his office.

"I assume you talked to Cuddy," Wilson says.

"Yup, we are dumping our youngest spawn at your place Saturday and picking him up on Sunday."

"And if I say no…?"

"Then I will have Kim watch Ian instead of you,"

"I assume this is for a good reason, not just an excuse for you and Cuddy to have sex without tending to a one year old."

"If I wanted to have sex with Cuddy, I would be dropping both of my kids off. Have no fear though; I will be getting some once Emma is asleep on Saturday night before she becomes all miserable on Sunday because of the funeral."

"What time are you dropping Ian off on Saturday?"

"I'm not sure; you will have to ask the warden," House stands up and walks out of Wilson's office, deciding to take a nap in his own before going home.

That Saturday, Cuddy, House and Emma drop Ian off at Wilson's at noon. Cuddy and Kim and House and Wilson get a chance to chat before they have to leave.

"I am surprised Cuddy didn't make you guys come here at six in the morning." Wilson says as him and House walk downstairs.

"She tried, but the drive to Boston isn't that long and I didn't want to spend any more time with her family than I have to."

"What happened to you being supportive of Cuddy in her time of need?"

"Her annoying mother and god awful sister aren't part of the package."

"How have you been doing?" Kim asks while she and Cuddy are in the living room watching the kids play.

"I'm okay. There are times when I want to cry, but they pass. The funeral tomorrow is going to be difficult." Kim nods sympathetically and takes a sip of water.

"The funeral will help Cuddy, it might not seem like it at the time, but it will." Cuddy smiles softly at Kim and looks down at their kids playing.

"I don't know how Emma is going to be tomorrow. Although, I don't want her to be sad, I think she should go."

"I think Emma will be okay, she might have some questions about it, but there's no doubt she can handle it. I mean she is you and House's kid after all."

"Speaking of House, we should probably get going. I don't want him to whine when we hit Boston traffic at rush hour."

"He is probably in the basement with my husband, I'll yell down there." Kim stands up and walks over to the door leading to the basement,

"House! Cuddy wants you!"

"I'm sure she does!" House yells back.

"She says to get you're a-s-s up here otherwise you aren't getting any for a long time!" Kim responds.

"She's bluffing," House says to Wilson.

"Do you really want to find out if she is?" Wilson asks.

"You are no fun," House pouts and starts walking up the stairs.

"Emma please get your coat and shoes on, we are leaving." Cuddy says to her daughter.

"Mommy, I wanna stay!" Emma argues and puts her hands on her hip in a very Cuddy-like pose.

"We have to go see grandma and Auntie Julia. Doesn't that sound fun?" Cuddy asks Emma.

"That sounds awful," House says and stands next to Cuddy.

"You aren't helping," Cuddy whispers to House. "Emma let's go, get your shoes and coat." Cuddy and House can see Emma debating with herself whether she wants to push the issue further. Emma gives in and runs to the front door to get her shoes and coat on.

"Thank you so much for watching Ian, I hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience." Cuddy says to Kim and Wilson.

"No problem Cuddy, you know I would do anything for you," Wilson says.

"Hey what about me?" House asks.

"You know I _have to _do anything for you," Wilson says.

"Mommy, daddy, let's go!" Emma yells as she tries to zip up her pink coat.

"It looks like Queen Emma is ready to go," House says and puts his hand on the small of Cuddy's back, guiding her to the door.

"Bye guys! We will be back around dinnertime tomorrow!" Cuddy says on the way out.

Cuddy, House and Emma arrive in Boston in the late afternoon. They rent a nice hotel and relax for the rest of the evening. On Sunday, the trio head to the church. The mass begins and Cuddy ushers House and Emma into a pew behind Julia and Arlene. Cuddy is pleasantly surprised by House's behavior. She knows that he is firmly against any sort of religion. Cuddy was more than prepared for House to be mocking everything about the service Arlene planned. The mass concludes and the minister allows Cuddy's family and close friends to say some words about Kevin.

Julia goes first and talks about what a good father and grandfather Kevin was to her and her kids. One of the pediatrician's Kevin works with goes next and says what a great friend and coworker Kevin was. Arlene is next and delivers a shockingly sweet speech about what a great husband he was.

All through the eulogies House realizes how different Cuddy's father's funeral is from John's two years ago. Arlene actually looks how grieving widows should look compared to how Blythe did. Arlene has tears cascading down her cheeks recounting how she first met Kevin fifty years ago at a movie theater. To put it bluntly, House thinks that his mother was just happy that her marriage was over. No more rules or expectations that John had. She was allowed to see House, Cuddy and the kids as much as she wanted. She can paint, go out with friends and didn't have to follow a rigid schedule that John instilled in her throughout their three decade long marriage. House looks at Cuddy and notices the way she is intently listening to Arlene's story. Clearly, Arlene has never told Cuddy how she met Kevin. House breaks out of his reverie when he notices weight being added onto his lap. He looks up at Cuddy who has placed Emma on his lap and walks up to the podium to give her eulogy.

"My dad…" Cuddy stops and starts to let go of all the grief she has kept locked away for the past week. She bursts into tears and turns around to try to control herself. House grabs his cane, sets Emma down in the pew and walks over to where Cuddy is.

"What are you doing?" Cuddy whispers and tries frantically to wipe away the tears spewing out of her eyes.

"I am being less of an ass," House grabs the paper containing Cuddy's speech out of her hands and turns around facing the crowd.

"Change of plans, I am going to speak on Lisa's behalf," House says and wraps an arm around Cuddy. Arlene grins at the couple, happy to see House helping out Cuddy.

"My dad wasn't the kind of dad that taught his daughters how to play catch. He was the kind of dad that taught you every bone and muscle in the human body at the tender age of eight. He made sure that you lived up to your full potential and seized every opportunity that life had to offer. He encouraged me to break boundaries and because of him I became the youngest woman Dean of Medicine in the country. I couldn't have done it without him. I love you dad and I want you to know that you made me a better person, love Lisa."

House couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Cuddy's relationship with her dad. John never showed the kind of love and respect Kevin showed Cuddy. The only emotion John ever felt with House was anger and disappointment. Feeling like you are never good enough is an accurate statement to describe House and John's bond.

"Hey mommy?" Emma yells in front of everyone.

"What sweetie?" Cuddy asks with curiosity.

"I wanna say somethin too!" Emma demands and walks over to where her parents are. House shrugs and picks Emma up, telling her how to use the microphone.

"Okay, say what you want to say Emma," House softly orders.

"My gandpa was the best!" Emma says and backs away from the microphone. The whole church claps for Emma and the three of them return to their seats.

"That concludes the service, there are refreshments if you go out the double doors," The minster says. Everyone sitting down stands up and slowly walks out to the lobby of the church.

"That was a lovely thing you did for my daughter Greg, thank you." Arlene says and hugs House. House stiffens and makes a face that Emma laughs at.

"You are getting more senile as you get older, granny. Get off of me," House says and pushes away from Arlene's grasp. Cuddy wraps an arm around House's waist and leans into him, feeling comfortable in his arms.

"Emma thank you so much for saying that about your grandpa! It was so nice!" Arlene says and bends down to match Emma's eyelevel.

"Welcome gamma, I'll say dat for you too," Arlene's eyes widen and House tries not to crack a smile at the unintentional meaning behind Emma's words.

"Good for you pumpkin," Arlene says and pats Emma's head. Arlene smiles at her daughter and rejoins Julia and her family.

"I think it's time to go, I think Emma needs her afternoon nap," Cuddy says.

"I do too, funeral's make me sleepy," House says. Cuddy rolls her eyes and waves goodbye to her family gathered around the refreshment table.

House, Cuddy and Emma get in the car and make the long drive back to Princeton. They swing by Wilson's to chat for a bit and pick up Ian. After the kids are fed and have fallen asleep, House and Cuddy lie on the bed.

"Thank you for what you did for me today," Cuddy says and kisses House's bare chest.

"It was no biggie, I wanted to go home and I knew it was going to take forever for you to stop crying," House deflects.

"I could tell that you were a little sad at my father's funeral and I know it wasn't because you missed my dad. It was something else,"

"With John's service everyone seemed almost relieved that he was dead. It was like they didn't have to be afraid of him anymore. Your dad's was completely different; people there appeared to be so heartbroken that he was gone."

Cuddy can understand how weird that must be for House. John was the model for bad parenting everywhere. He was cold, apathetic and abusive.

"I'll be right back," House says and goes into the bathroom. Cuddy hopes that she didn't push House to far tonight, she knows more than anyone how much he doesn't like to talk about John. However, Cuddy firmly believes that House opening up to her helps House get over the deeply rooted issues that he has with father. She hears the toilet flush and House comes out of the bathroom carrying a velvet box.

"Greg…" Cuddy gasps as House opens the box.

"I am not going to get down on one knee and ask you to marry me. One, my leg is a little stiff and two, I have already done that. I am going to simply ask you to put the ring back on your finger. Cuddy, I want to marry you, I do. I just want you to know that I am going to disappoint you throughout our life together. We are going to fight and you are going to kick me out of the house, leaving me with no choice, but to go bug Wilson. The truth is, I annoy and challenge you because I love when you get that spark in your eyes and yell at me. Anyway, I want you to be my wife so I can have sex with you whenever I want and you have to make me sandwiches. Can you agree to that?"

"Wow that was really Wilson-like of you. I will marry you if we agree to communicate more, can you agree to that?"

"Mommmmm,"

"House,"

"Cuddy,"

"Accept my terms,"

"Will you make me a reuben on command?"

"No,"

"Fine, will you have sex with me on command?"

"No,"

"Maybe I don't want to marry you anymore." House crosses his arms across his chest and pouts. Cuddy laughs,

"Let's compromise here,"

"I don't see how that's possible,"

"I won't stab you while we are married and you won't make me want to stab you. How is that?"

"Where are your negotiating skills that make you so good at your job? _Negotiate _Cuddy,"

"Fine, I will make you food _when you ask me nicely_ and have sex with you _at home when our children aren't awake. _How is that?"

"You drive a hard bargain Cuddy,"

"Do you accept my terms?"

"I am not signing a contract,"

"Damn I will have to call my lawyer and ask him to rip it up,"

"Cute."

"I try."

**A/N 2: Okay, that's all I got for you guys right now. Reviews help the idea process. Next chapter we skip ahead a bit and House does something extremely sweet for Cuddy. Don't give up on this story yet!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thank you so much for all your kind reviews! I plan on writing four more chapters after this, so if you stick with me and keep reviewing, that would be great. Please enjoy this chapter and leave a review on your way out.**

**Chapter Seven- Bachelor/Bachelorette**

"Would you flash your boobs to the maintenance staff? The AC unit in my office is on the fritz and I want it fixed pronto." House says as he walks into Cuddy's office. Cuddy, of course, is on the phone with an important donor who, of course, heard every word of House's rant. Cuddy holds up a freshly manicured finger which House ignores.

"Tell whoever it is that they can call back _after _you get someone up there to fix my AC so I don't have to smell ass every time I want to save a life," Cuddy says her goodbyes, writes a note on her calendar and finally turns her attention to her childish fiancé.

"It's not even that hot out for June, stop being a baby,"

"I am not a baby; I am a man of principle." Cuddy raises an arched eyebrow at House and tries her hardest not to laugh in his face.

"And what principle are you standing upon exactly?" House rolls his eyes as if it is obvious,

"The principle that one should always get hit in the face with AC when said person walks into a building that was built after the 1960's." Cuddy laughs at House's ridiculousness.

"The clinic is air conditioned, why don't you work in there?" Cuddy proposed.

"I would rather sweat in my office than freeze in the clinic."

"Fine, than go, I'll call maintenance to fix your AC," House squints his eyes at her, not believing that she will actually call.

"I will check your phone records when you leave today,"

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you _darling_," Cuddy smiles at him innocently and blows him a kiss.

"Keep it up _Pookie _and I will show up to our wedding hammered and hit on Julia all night." As House is walking out, Cuddy can't help but be thankful that her and House are back to their infamous playful banter. After her father's death, House was there for her every step of the way; he willingly became a part of their wedding planning, more than Cuddy had ever hoped. They have all the details planned out; leaving the only thing left to do is final alterations on Cuddy's wedding dress. House and Cuddy are getting married on July 27th at the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Princeton.

"Cuddy…" Wilson says and takes a seat next to her desk. Cuddy doesn't seem to notice him; she keeps staring at the wall with a dopey grin on her face.

"Cuddy!" Wilson says louder and makes Cuddy jump slightly.

"What can I help you with Wilson?" Cuddy asks and rearranges the papers on her desk.

"We need to finalize plans for House's bachelorette party. Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah of course, I have been so busy lately. What have you planned so far?"

"I made reservations for Friday night at Harrah's in Atlantic City. The only thing I don't know is how we are going to get him there without him knowing." Cuddy sighed and falls back into her chair in a huff.

The phone rings in House's office, cutting right through a differential.

"Are you going to answer that?" Thirteen asks. House looks up from the file and notices his team gazing at him expectantly.

"What?" House barks and Thirteen points to the ringing phone. House leans over the table and snatches the phone off the cradle.

"You have about thirty seconds before I hang up,"

"House," Kim says

"Oh my god! What the hell are you calling me for? Call Wilson!"

"I am not in labor you idiot! I still have about two weeks before I am due,"

"Then I am going to hang up on you,"

"No! I have something to talk to you about, make sure Cuddy isn't standing right next to you,"

"She isn't standing right next to me,"

"Are you lying?"

"No,"

"Fine, you need to plan something for Cuddy's bachelorette party,"

"Why the hell do I need to do that?"

"Because I have on good authority that Cuddy has something planned for you,"

"By good authority, you mean Wilson,"

"He talks a lot after we have sex, it's extremely annoying. That's not the point, now who would she want to be there?"

"Probably you, god knows why,"

"Shut up, I'll set up massages, manicures and pedicures on Friday night,"

"Great, thank you for wasting my time,"

"Your welcome, tell the team I said hello," House hangs up on her and rejoins the team in the conference room.

"Where were we?" House asks.

"You were about to insult us and then embrace your own idea like you always do," Foreman deadpans.

"Right, you are all wrong and the patient needs a liver biopsy. I will go talk to Cuddy, you guys prep the patient." House walks out of the office and into Cuddy's.

"I am back again, but this time for medical reasons," Cuddy throws down her pen.

"Between you and Wilson, I can't get a moment to finish the budget report."

"The one time I have a valid reason to be here, you bitch at me. Wilson on the other hand, needs to talk to a woman who isn't going to cry at the drop of a hat and fits into regular size clothing."

"What do you need?"

"It's not what I need; it's what my patient needs. He needs a liver biopsy to check for cancer."

"What's the problem?"

"He has DIC, he might bleed out if we stick a needle in his liver,"

"So…"

"It's hard to believe you still have an M.D at the end of your name. I was thinking of a transjugular liver biopsy, but due to the administrative crap this hospital has me go through, I have to ask you first."

"I am glad to see that I have finally started to rub off on you."

"Puh, I just don't want to sit through another lame administrative hearing while perfectly watchable porn is being ignored,"

"Do the biopsy,"

"Thank you," House grabs his cane and starts to turn around.

"House, wait!" Cuddy says as he is walking to the door. House walks back to her desk and gives her his full attention.

"What?"

"Do you want a bachelor party?" House doesn't hesitate,

"Sure, do you want a bachelorette party?"

"Sure," Cuddy says after hearing House's immediate response.

"I'll see you at home," House kisses her softly on the lips and walks out.

House solves the case by midnight and comes home to his family. He slips into bed next to Cuddy who is fast asleep. She feels the weight change and immediately moves closer to House. House brushes a few loose curls from her face and kisses her forehead.

"Did you solve it?" Cuddy asks her voice thick from sleep.

"Of course, terminal liver cancer. The patient only has a few months left,"

"I'm sorry," House wraps an arm around her and Cuddy lays her head down on House's chest.

"I'm not; the guy was an alcoholic and wife abuser. He got what he deserved," Cuddy knows that House is shaken by this case because of John. He died from complications of liver failure when Emma was a baby.

"I love you," Cuddy says because she doesn't know what else to say.

"I love your ass," House responds, not liking the seriousness of this conversation. Cuddy laughs and slaps House's chest lightly.

"I love your ass too," Cuddy reaches around and slaps House's ass.

"I am going to go to bed. We have kids to get up for in the morning,"

"Why did we have kids anyway?" Cuddy rolls her eyes and chooses not to answer House's question.

"Goodnight House,"

"Night Cuddy,"

The next day is Friday, the day of House and Cuddy's bachelor/bachelorette parties. House's case is solved and Cuddy told her assistant to not schedule anything past six, in the hopes that House had something planned for her. Around one, Wilson stops by Cuddy's office to make sure she is ready.

"For the thousandth time Wilson, it will work. Do you have a bag for House in your car?"

"Yup, although knowing House, he won't even use it. What time are you going to see him?"

"I told him to do clinic duty before he leaves which I know he won't. So, I am going to surprise him in his office around four. I will text you and then you can come and pick him up. Got it?"

"Okay, I'll have my phone on me,"

"Thanks Wilson for doing this,"

"He's my best friend, and I want to get out of town before we have the baby," Wilson leaves and Cuddy tries to turn her attention back to her paperwork. She hopes this will work and she will finally pull one over on House.

Cuddy shuts her computer off at four and stands up to stretch. She heads down to the cafeteria to buy a garden salad for her and a Reuben with a coke for House.

"Hey!" Cuddy calls out and opens his office door. House scowls and shuts off his computer, not wanting Cuddy to find out he was looking at porn again while he was supposed to be working.

"I was just about to go down to the clinic," House lies lamely. Cuddy gives him a look as if to say that she wasn't buying it.

"That's okay, I bought us a late lunch," Cuddy sets the Reuben and Coke down on his desk and sits down in a nearby chair. House narrows his eyes at her and slowly leans back in his office chair.

"You brought me lunch instead of chewing me out for not being at the clinic. Is there something you want to tell me Cuddles? Oh my god…are you pregnant?"

"What? No, I was hoping that we could eat together since we have been so busy lately. Eat up, I don't have all day." House still doesn't look entirely convinced, but takes a slug of his Coke.

"Actually, I have something to tell you,"

"Oh really?"

"Yes, I have gone out of my way and had Kim make reservations at…shit I forgot where it was…oh well, it doesn't matter. The point is that you and the whale are getting all that girly crap done tonight."

"What exactly does 'girly crap' entail? And Wilson doesn't like it when you call his wife a whale." Cuddy asks, excitedly.

"Wilson can kiss my ass. Anyway, pedicures, manicures and massages, I believe. And you better like it because I gave Kim my credit card to pay for all that." Cuddy beams and gives House a kiss.

"I won't enjoy it just because you paid for it,"

"Ouch, you are one cold woman,"

"You love it," House rolls his eyes at her and the couple fall into a comfortable silence while they eat. Towards the end of the meal, House feels himself getting dizzy and his mouth becoming dry. He looks up at Cuddy who is pleasantly enjoying her meal and notices that she hasn't had any of his drink which is unusual. She never gets a drink for herself because she knows that he will give her a few sips of his. _Oh my god! _The pieces click in place and House looks up at Cuddy in shock.

"You…drugged…me," House says as he feels himself slipping into unconsciousness.

"Consider it payback from Wilson for all the times you have drugged him," Cuddy says. House's body goes limp and Cuddy feels elated that they pulled this off. She dials Wilson who picks up on the first ring.

"He's out," Cuddy announces feeling a little guilty that she said that with such pride.

"Good job Cuddy, I'm on my way," Cuddy closes the blinds and locks House's office to make sure none of House's team members come in and ask why their boss is unconscious and their bosses boss is smiling about it. Five minutes later Wilson pounds on the glass frantically, as if someone is chasing him. Cuddy rolls her eyes at Wilson's dramatics and gets up to open the door.

"Honestly, I didn't think this would work," Wilson says and wheels in a gurney.

"Help me load him onto the gurney," Cuddy says and walks over to House, putting her arms under his armpits. Wilson swings the office chair around and grabs House's legs.

"On the count of three," Cuddy says and counts. Together they hoist him onto a gurney and Wilson covers House's body with a sheet.

"I'll tell his team that Emma is sick and he went home early," Cuddy says.

"Okay, my car is parked in the back entrance by the dumpster; hopefully no one will stop me."

"They will probably jump for joy at the sight of House unconscious. I think Kim is staying over at my place tonight with the kids if you need to get in touch with her."

"House will keep me entertained enough in Atlantic City, but thanks. I'll have him back in one piece tomorrow afternoon."

"One more thing, please don't let him get arrested, I really don't want to post bail. Keep an eye on him,"

"Don't worry Cuddy, I will," Wilson wheels the gurney out and Cuddy dials Kim.

"Hey, what time is our appointment tonight?"

"He told you?"

"Yup, and thanks by the way, that was really nice of you guys to do."

"No problem, I thought you could use a spa day. Our appointment is at Utopia nails at six."

"Perfect, do you want to pick up the kids and have a sleepover at my house since the boys are gone?"

"Good idea, although I was going to invite myself over anyway," Cuddy laughs at Kim's bluntness.

"Okay then, I'll meet you at Utopia later."

"K bye," They hang up and Cuddy notices that House's team is going to be back from wherever they were soon. Cuddy opens the blinds and leaves House's office not before leaving a note on the table about House's current location.

House wakes up from his drug-induced sleep around five thirty. He slowly opens his eyes and looks around. From what he can deduce, he is in a moving car with Wilson driving through some comatose village.

"If you don't marry Cuddy for doing this, I will," Wilson mutters and turns down the radio.

"She drugged me and you are kidnapping me to…where?" House stares out the window for some clues as to where they are going.

"For your bachelor party Cuddy arranged for us to spend a night in Atlantic City,"

"I am so glad that I am banging her instead of Kim," House says in a slight appreciation of Cuddy.

"We will be there in about a half an hour, why don't you go back to sleep?"

"Nah, I would rather stay up and chat with my BFF," Wilson turns up the radio to unsuccessfully drown out House's singing.

Back in Princeton, Cuddy closes out her files and tells her secretary to schedule sporadic meetings for next week. Before she leaves, she dials home to make sure it's okay for Marina to stay later than normal.

"Hey Marina it's me,"

"Oh hi Dr. Cuddy, everything okay?"

"Yeah, I was hoping you could stay a little later today because House surprised me with spa treatments."

"Oh that's wonderful! You tell Dr. House I approve," Cuddy laughs and tells Marina goodbye. She texts Kim to say she was leaving and hops in her car. The pair meet at the salon and are immediately taken into a quiet room to begin their pedicures.

"This was so nice of House to do this," Cuddy says in the midst of a foot massage.

"I know, it's a miracle that they are even touching my bloated pregnant feet,"

"Just be happy that you are pregnant to begin with,"

"Aw is someone jealous?" Kim asks teasingly.

"No, I have a wedding to focus on,"

"How's that going by the way?"

"Amazing, it's nice for House to have an opinion on flowers and seating arrangements. It's cliché and stupid, but it's still nice."

"When's the wedding?"

"July 27th,"

"Where are you going for the honeymoon?"

"I don't know House is keeping it to himself. Wilson told me that I will find out at the wedding reception."

House and Wilson arrive at the Harrah's Casino. Their bags are taken up to their room which is the penthouse suite.

"Damn, I wonder who Cuddy had to screw to get this place for a night," House muses as he throws his bags down on the bed.

"You are okay with that?"

"If it gets me free stuff then I will let a few things slide," House jokes and collapses on the bed.

"So, casino?" Wilson asks. House nods and the boys head downstairs.

Kim and Cuddy are done with their pedicures and now they are getting massages.

"So do you want another baby?" Kim asks out of the blue. Cuddy pops her head up to look at Kim.

"Did House send you here to be a spy?"

"I wouldn't tell you if he did,"

"Traitor,"

"Cuddy, you are my best friend I am entitled to know things about your life."

"House and I have talked about it, but I don't think it's going to happen. I am 44,"

"You were 43 when you were pregnant with Ian,"

"I know, but I had a miscarriage and go on fertility treatments to even get pregnant with Ian." Cuddy says with a slight edge in her voice. Kim realizes she pushed Cuddy too far and retreats.

"Sorry, I have sadly turned into one of those pregnant women who think everyone should have a baby," Cuddy brushes it off,

"It's okay, I want another baby, but I just don't want the fertility treatments and miscarriages that go along with having a baby in my upper forties."

"It's a bitch, isn't it?"

"If it happens, it happens," Cuddy thinks aloud.

"I wonder what Wilson and House are doing," Kim switches topics not wanting to upset Cuddy any further.

"Knowing House, probably gambling our savings away,"

"Wilson is probably drunk on wine coolers and telling bad jokes," Cuddy laughs,

"We know our men too well,"

"I raise one hundred," House throws in three blue chips and looks at Wilson, trying to analyze his hand by the face he is making.

"Call," Wilson throws in his wager and sips on his gin and tonic.

"By the way you are chugging down those drinks, you will be hammered by eight,"

"At least I will have money to buy my drinks," Wilson retaliates childishly.

"I bet you two hundred bucks that I will get a lap dance before you do,"

"You. Are. So. On." Wilson and House shake hands and lay down their cards.

"I win!" House rakes in his winnings and lights a cigar.

"Of course you do," Wilson mutters and looks at his dwindling stack of chips.

Cuddy and Kim arrive back at Cuddy's place at about eight after stopping briefly at Kim's to pick up her twins.

"Momma! Mommy!" Ian and Emma greet their mother at the door.

"Hey guys! Look who I brought home with me!" Cuddy exclaims and steps aside to let Kim and the twins in.

"Hey Emma and Ian!" Kim says and drops her bag on the couch.

"I am going to put Ian to bed," Cuddy picks Ian up and walks up the nursery.

"Mon boys, let's play," Emma takes the boys upstairs to her room to show them her new toys. Cuddy rocks Ian to sleep and stops in Emma's room.

"Hi sweetie, how was your day?" Cuddy asks Emma who is setting up a tea party for everyone.

"Ian and me goed to the park and we saw birdies!"

"Cool! Emma, it's getting close to your bedtime. Since Kim and the twins are sleeping over we are going to watch a movie in the basement and sleep down there okay?"

"YES!" Emma exclaims with excitement and grabs her pillow.

"Mon boys, let's go in da basement!" Emma leads her "posy" downstairs with an amused Cuddy behind them.

"Emma, pick out a movie for you guys to watch, Auntie Kim and I are going to set up downstairs."

"Kay mommy, we be down soon!" Emma leads the boys over to the TV cabinet in the living room where the DVD's are stored.

"Which movie?" Emma asks the twins.

"Dis!" Daniel points to _The Lion King_.

"No dis!" Richard grabs _The Princess and the Frog. _

"Grab 'em both!" Emma, ever the compromiser, says and they climb into the elevator.

"We got movies!" Emma announces as they step off the elevator in the basement.

"Emma, pick one," Cuddy says. Emma acts like this is the most important decision in her life as she looks at the DVD's.

"That one," Emma points to _The Princess and the Frog. _Cuddy puts in the DVD player and sits down on the couch next to Kim. Emma sits down next to Kim and the twins sit down next to her.

Close to nine, House and Wilson are growing tired of gambling and are looking for where to go to next.

"What's next House? This is your night," Wilson slightly slurs. House, having downed a few drinks himself is aimlessly looking around the casino. He spots a gentleman's club called _Bare Exposure._

"Let's go there," House points to the club and wags his eyebrows mischievously.

"Fine," Wilson and House pay the cover charge and enter the club ready for some more fun.

"This movie is ridiculous," Kim whispers over to Cuddy. Kim looks over at her kids who are fast asleep and then to Emma who is still barely awake.

"I kind of like it, the songs are good," Cuddy says and shoves a handful of popcorn into her mouth.

"Is this how you envisioned your bachelorette party to be? Us watching a Disney movie with our kids while our significant others are in Atlantic City?"

"Not really, but I am still recovering from your bachelorette party,"

"Oh please, it wasn't that bad," Cuddy arches her eyebrow and shakes her head.

"We were doing kamikaze shots until we threw up in the limo we rented. Luckily, I didn't have to go into work the next day or I don't know what I would have done."

"That would have been a sight to see, the Dean of Medicine hung over," Cuddy laughs,

"I remember House taking a picture of me hovered over the toilet and then leaving me alone for the rest of the day,"

"If that picture ever sees the light of day, I have a picture of House reading to kids with cancer that can be published all over the hospital."

"You are a good friend Kim," Cuddy and Kim laugh loud enough to stir Emma.

"Mommy?" Emma whispers and looks up at Cuddy.

"Sorry baby, we didn't mean to be so loud. Why don't you try and fall asleep?" Emma nods and climbs into Kim's lap.

"Are you having fun yet?" Wilson yells over the sound of the music.

"Yeah!" House yells back and sends a quick text to Cuddy.

**At a strip club with Wilson, try not too much fun with Shamu.**

** -H.**

Cuddy laughs and shows Kim the text.

**Tell Caramel I said hello and have fun.**

** -C.**

House smiles and shuts off his phone for the night.

"The girls say hello and to say hi to Caramel!" Wilson laughs and takes a swig of his beer.

About a half an hour later, Emma who is still awake, bursts out laughing.

"What's so funny Emma?" Cuddy asks sweetly, thinking she found something in the movie funny.

"Aunty Kim peed her pants!" Emma says and laughs some more.

"What the…" Cuddy asks and looks up at Kim who has a horrified expression on her face.

"I think…my water just broke…" Kim whispers.

"Shit…" Cuddy sighs.

**A/N 2: That's it for now! Next chapter Kim has her baby and they try to get the boys to come back home. Only four chapters left! Thanks for reading and please leave a review on your way out. **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thank you for all the reviews; I appreciate every single one of them. After this, there are only three chapters left. Also, before I start, please understand that I try my best to stick to the medical facts, but I tend to slightly distort them to fit my story. Please enjoy the next chapter of **_**We're Going To Be Okay.**_

**Chapter Eight- Race Against Time**

"_Aunty Kim peed her pants!" Emma says and laughs some more._

_ "What the…" Cuddy asks and looks up at Kim who has a horrified expression on her face. _

_ "I think…my water just broke…" Kim whispers._

_ "Shit…" Cuddy sighs._

"Mommy, bad word!" Emma yells at Cuddy. Kim and Cuddy are too distracted to notice Emma.

"Cuddy, what are we going to do? Wilson and House are in Atlantic City, which is about two hours from here and I am going to have this baby and…"

"Kim! You need to calm down and breathe. We will get a hold of them and they will come. Right now, focus and answer me." Cuddy waits for Kim to stop panicking and look at her.

"Okay, what's the plan?" Kim asks.

"Do you have a bag that you packed for the hospital?"

"Yeah, it's at my house,"

"Okay, we are going to get the bag and I will make a few phone calls from the car."

"Good idea," Kim stands up and doubles over in pain from a contraction. Cuddy helps her breathe through it. Emma watches her aunt in horror, never wanting to see that again.

"Alright…let's go…" Kim takes a few deep breaths and wakes up the twins while Cuddy wakes up Ian.

"Guys we got to go to the hospital to have your new brother or sister!" Kim tells the kids excitedly.

"Yay!" The twins say and high five each other.

"Alright let's get in the car," Cuddy says when she comes back downstairs carrying Ian and his diaper bag. They pile into Cuddy's Lexus and head to Kim and Wilson's. Emma can tell that although they try to act excited, her mom and aunt are nervous because her dad and uncle aren't here. She looks over at her cousins and brother who have fallen asleep again. She leans back in her car seat to watch the show that has unfolded before her.

Cuddy pulls out her Blackberry and hands it to Kim.

"Can you scroll through my contacts and call Douglas please?" Kim complies and hands the phone back to Cuddy.

"Hello?" Dr. Douglas says into the phone.

"Hi Brent it's Lisa, I need a favor. Kim, Dr. Wilson's wife, is in labor. Can you come to the hospital as soon as you can please?"

"Of course, I have to get dressed, but I will be at the hospital in about twenty minutes."

"Great, thank you, I will see you then," Cuddy hangs up and pulls into Kim's driveway.

"Can you go in and get it? I am going to try and get a hold of House or Wilson." Cuddy asks Kim who gets out of the car and heads into her home. Cuddy dials Wilson, but is immediately sent to voice mail.

"Hey Wilson it's Cuddy. I really need you to pick up the phone because Kim is in labor. I am going to keep calling until you pick up. Please, don't freak out your wife and pick up the damn phone." Cuddy hangs up and waits for Kim to come back out. She checks on the kids in her rearview mirror and sees that Emma is staring out the car window.

"Emma, why aren't you asleep?" Cuddy asks.

"I not tired." Cuddy knows that Emma is stubborn enough to stay awake and will fall asleep eventually, pushing her will only make it worse.

House and Wilson are in a private room towards the back of the _Bare Exposure _gentlemen's club. Strippers are currently dancing on the boys' lap while they are downing drinks.

"I should probably call Kim to say goodnight," Wilson says to House who predictably rolls his eyes.

"Don't be a pussy Wilson, be a man. Your lady can survive without you for one night."

"I distinctly remember you sending Cuddy a cute goodbye text about an hour ago."

"If I didn't then Cuddy would start calling every police station in and around Atlantic City. My text assured her that I was with you and not getting raped in prison by Bubba." Wilson laughs at how ridiculous House sounds, but in a weird way it makes sense.

On the way to the hospital, Cuddy decides to call House. He most likely won't pick up, but it's worth the effort.

_Hi you have reached the voicemail box of Gregory House. Don't bother leaving your name and number because I won't ever call you back._

Cuddy makes a mental note to make House change his voicemail message.

"Hi House its Cuddy, tell Wilson to pick up his damn phone and come back to Princeton because his wife is about to have his child. By the way, change your goddamn voicemail message. Call me back as soon as one of you bothers to check your phone. Love you, bye."

"You do realize that your three year old is awake right?" Kim asks, thoroughly enjoying Cuddy's message.

"Like she hasn't heard it all before," Cuddy brushes it off and pulls into her executive parking space.

"How come you got a super close parking space and I had to waddle my pregnant ass from wherever I could find a spot?" Kim asks.

"I am going to quote my fiancé here and say that 'I run this dump and when I finally decide to tell the board to shove it, I can race out of here as fast as I can before security comes and arrests me'."

"That sounds like a good enough reason," Kim says and feels another contraction coming on. She grips the car handle and waits until it passes. Meanwhile, Cuddy gets the kids awake and out of the car trying to distract them from looking over at Kim. They take the elevator upstairs to the maternity floor where Douglas is waiting in his office. He checks them into a private suite and waits for the nurses to set up the appropriate monitors before examining Kim. Cuddy takes the kids up to House' s office while Douglas is looking over Kim. The twins and Ian are too tired to mess with House's things and Emma is too worried to pay attention to anything.

"Mommy?" Emma asks in a soft voice.

"What baby?"

"Is Auntie Kim okay?"

"Of course she is, this is just the process of having a baby," Cuddy has tried to protect Emma from the nature of her and House's job, but she is a brilliant girl and will find out eventually. Emma crinkles her nose in disgust,

"I don't wanna a baby. Eber!" Cuddy laughs and wishes House were here to see this. He would be so happy to see his little girl declare that she is never having a baby.

"I don't think you have to worry about that for a long time baby." Cuddy brushes an ebony ringlet from Emma's cherub face.

"Good!" Emma declares and starts to draw on her dad's infamous whiteboard. Cuddy can feel her eyelids drooping a bit, but reminds herself that she can't sleep until she sees Wilson and House. Luckily, Douglas knocks on the door, making Cuddy more alert. Cuddy does a quick check on the kids and steps outside to chat with Douglas.

"Hi Brent, thanks for coming on such short notice," Cuddy says.

"Of course, now Kim is only about two centimeters dilated. However, her blood pressure is slightly elevated, which can cause problems during delivery." Cuddy heavily sighs and rubs her forehead.

"I know this falls outside of my purview as Kim's doctor, but why isn't Wilson here? Are they having some kind of fight or something?"

"No, nothing like that. Wilson took House up to Atlantic City for House's bachelor party. They seem to have shut off their phones."

"Alright, well the only thing we can do for now is to keep trying to get a hold of Wilson. Dr. Cuddy, it's very important that Kim's blood pressure is within normal limits, I don't want anything to happen to that baby." Cuddy nods with understanding and prays that Wilson will call her back soon.

"Thanks Brent, I will try my best to get in touch with Wilson."

"Okay, I have to check on a few other patients, I will be back to check on Kim when I can." Douglas walks to the elevator leaving Cuddy standing in the hallway feeling very nervous. She decides to give Wilson another call on the off chance he actually picks up. Not surprisingly, he doesn't pick up.

"Wilson, I hope you know that you are putting your unborn child in danger by not picking up the phone. I just talked to Douglas and he said that Kim's blood pressure is elevated. Please don't do this to Kim. Turn on your phone and come back to Princeton. Bye." Cuddy ends the call and walks back into House's office.

"Look mom," Emma says and points to the whiteboard. Cuddy sees a stick figure with a cane and four other stick figures sitting around a table. She smiles when she realizes that Emma drew House and his team doing a differential.

"I think you should leave that up for daddy to see,"

"Okay!"

"Emma, we're going to Auntie Kim's room to wait for your dad and uncle. Can you help me wake everyone up?" Emma nods and starts walking over to the twins and Ian who are fast asleep in House's ottoman.

"Up! Up!" Emma commands and pokes the boys. Cuddy picks Ian up and grabs the diaper bag. The twins sleepily follow Emma and Cuddy to Kim's room.

"I brought visitors!" Cuddy says as they pour into the hospital room.

"Hi guys!" Kim says, feigning happiness. Cuddy is grateful that one of the nurses put a cot in the room. She sets Ian down in it and the twins climb in too. Emma and Cuddy sit in the two chairs someone set out. Kim flips to the Disney channel for Emma to watch.

Back in Atlantic City, around midnight, Wilson sneaks out of the club while House is too busy to notice. He steps out into the lobby of the hotel and turns on his phone. Wilson didn't expect to see over 10 missed calls and three voicemails all originating from Cuddy's phone. He takes a deep breath and checks his voicemail. He grows more and more concerned after each one. When all three were listened to, Wilson runs as fast as he can back into the club.

"House, we need to go now!" Wilson exclaims. House peaks out from behind a stripper's back and looks at Wilson.

"What are you freaking out about? Don't worry, your curfew isn't for a few hours," House snarks. Wilson isn't in the mood for House's sarcasm,

"My wife is in labor. So, say goodbye to your new friends and let's get the hell out of here." House's eyes widen and he pushes the stripper off of him.

"Sorry Amber, we will continue this at a later date," House slips a twenty into Amber's bra and gets up, following Wilson out of the club. They race upstairs to their room, collect their things and check out through their TV.

"You got everything?" Wilson asks House.

"Yeah, let's go," Wilson is shocked that House doesn't have some sarcastic remark to say about their current situation. _Maybe I'm too distracted to care, _Wilson thinks to himself as they (Wilson) are loading up the car. Once they are driving to Princeton, House dials Cuddy who picks up on the first ring.

"House! You have no idea how happy I am to hear your voice," House notices how relieved Cuddy sounds.

"I will not have phone sex with you Cuddy! There are more important matters at hand." House says to alleviate the seriousness of their situation.

"Shut up, I'm assuming since you are calling me that Wilson has heard my voicemail messages?"

"Yeah, and you made Wilson shit his pants. I had to change him before we left."

"Where are you guys right now?"

"We are just leaving Atlantic City. With Wilson's crazy driving, I am guessing we will be there in less than two hours."

"House, please be careful. I don't want you two getting arrested for a DUI on the way home."

"Don't worry; Wilson is the best designated drunk driver ever."

"Yes, I am completely calm now, thanks for that." Cuddy sarcastically says.

"Relax Cuddles, we will be there soon," House hangs up the phone and mutters "women" quietly.

Cuddy comes back into the room and wakes Kim up who was taking a nap.

"I have good news. I just got off the phone with House and they are heading back here now. They should be here in a few hours." Cuddy can see the relief wash over her best friends face. She glances up at the monitors and notices that Kim's blood pressure has gone down as well.

"That's awesome! Thanks Cuddy for everything,"

"You are my best friend Kim; I'll help you with anything. Go back to sleep, Wilson will be here before you know it."

An hour later, Wilson and House are driving through a small town in New Jersey when they hear sirens from behind them.

"Oh you got to be fucking kidding me," Wilson says angrily and pulls over.

"Don't worry I got this," House says with confidence.

"House, we are both drunk; I don't know how we can get out of this,"

"Just shut up and follow my lead," The cop approaches them and Wilson rolls down his window.

"License and registration please," The cop says.

"It's in the glove box," Wilson tells House who grabs it and hands it to Wilson, who in turn, hands it to the cop. The cop checks it and gives it back to Wilson.

"Do you know why I pulled you over tonight?" The cop asks routinely.

"We were speeding," Wilson says nervously.

"I also smell alcohol on you," The cop says.

"Look Officer…" House pauses to check the cop's nametag, "Samson, we were in Atlantic City for my bachelor party. We got a call saying that Wilson's wife is in labor. Naturally, we want to get back to Princeton as quick as we can." Officer Samson looks extremely doubtful, having heard bullshit excuses like this before.

"You honestly expect me to believe that the reason you are drunk and driving 30 miles over the speed limit is because your wife is in labor." The officer pulls his handcuffs out and gestures for Wilson to get out of the car.

"James Wilson, I am placing you under arrest for DUI and speeding. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights as I just read them to you?"

"Fuck," House says from inside the car and recognizes that he needs to do something to save his best friend. He steps out of the car,

"Sir, I need you to get back into the car or you will find yourself arrested just like your friend," House does not budge, but he remains where he is standing.

"Officer, for once in my life I am not lying to a cop. What we told you is the truth and I would like to prove it to you." House pulls out his phone and shows it to the cop.

"Alright, you have five minutes or I am taking your friend into the station." House tries to ignore Wilson's pleading look as he dials Cuddy.

"Hey," Cuddy answers gently, trying not to wake everyone that is sleeping.

"Hey, I need you to do something for me, it's really important." Cuddy can feel her pulse pick up, there can't be a good reason House is calling.

"What?" Cuddy asks nervously.

"Wilson got arrested for DUI and speeding."

"WHAT!" Cuddy yells, not caring that she just woke Kim up.

"Calm down, I need you to tell the cop that Kim is in labor and that we need to get back to Princeton."

"Of all the stupid things you two have done…"

"You can reprimand me later, preferably with whips and chains. Right now, make this cop believe you or Wilson is getting taken to jail."

"Fine, give him the phone,"

"It's for you," House announces and walks over the cop.

"Hello, who is this?" The cop answers tentatively.

"Hi, this is Lisa Cuddy, House's fiancée. I believe you have a James Wilson is custody?" Kim's eyes enlarge and she puts her hand over her mouth in disbelief.

"Yes that is true,"

"The story my fiancé told you is true. I have James' wife Kim next to me who is about to have their baby. Please let Wilson go." Officer Samson isn't entirely convinced of what Cuddy is telling him.

"Can I speak to Mrs. Wilson?" The cop asks.

"Sure, hold on," Cuddy hands the phone to Kim who has a questioning look in her eyes.

"I will explain everything in a minute, just talk to the cop and tell him what is going on," Cuddy whispers. Kim puts the phone to her ear,

"Hello, this is Kim Wilson,"

"Hi, Mrs. Wilson, I have your husband in custody. He tells me that you are in labor?"

"Yes, they were in Atlantic City for House's bachelor party. We have been trying to get a hold of them for some time now." Kim tries not to cry out as she feels another contraction coming on. Cuddy takes the phone from her and encourages Kim to breathe. The officer can hear Kim's muffled moaning and he hangs up the phone. He walks over to Wilson and releases the handcuffs.

"Alright, I believe you. I am going to let you off with a warning on the condition that you slow down. Tell your wife that you love her and will never leave her again. Have a safe trip home boys," House and Wilson get back in the car.

"Well that was fun," House quips.

"I can't believe _I _was the one who was about to be arrested and not you."

"It was my bright blue eyes that convinced the cop to let us go."

"You keep telling yourself that House," Wilson is secretly thankful that House got him out of being arrested, but he knew if he thanked House he would just brush it off. House sends Cuddy a text,

**The dumbass cop bought our story and let us go. Be there in an hour.**

**-H.**

A few seconds later House feels his pocket vibrate. It's a text from Cuddy,

**You were lucky that I was there to save your sorry asses, as usual. Now get back here so you can thank me ;)**

** -C. **

Cuddy sets her phone down after texting House and looks around the hospital room. Kim has been given an epidural and fell back asleep. Emma is fast asleep in the chair next to Cuddy and the boys are all asleep in the cot. Cuddy lays her head down on the end of Kim's hospital bed and closes her eyes. She falls into a light sleep, dreaming about her upcoming wedding. Everything is all planned out, but she feels like that she is missing something, like it could be perfect except for one thing. She thinks back to a conversation she had with Kim about a month ago. They were talking about wedding vows.

_That's it! House and I should write our own vows. But wait, I don't think House would be comfortable with saying his feelings in front of their family and friends. He might turn it down. I could always ask and see what he thinks about it. If its no, than its no; I don't mind saying an altered version of the traditional wedding vows. When this is all over, I will ask him. _Cuddy decides and goes back to dreaming.

House and Wilson stumble into Kim's hospital room at around 2:15 in the morning. They are surprised to find that everyone has fallen asleep, even Kim. House checks on his family while Wilson checks on his. House lightly touches Cuddy's shoulder and she wakes up.

"Hmm…" Cuddy groans with her eyes flittering open.

"It's me, Cuddy. It's House." Cuddy's eyes fully open and she hugs House.

"I am so glad you didn't get arrested." Cuddy whispers into House's neck. House wonders if Cuddy can smell the booze on him or is just choosing to ignore it for the time being. Cuddy gets up so House can sit down. House sits and grabs Cuddy around the waist, letting her sit on his good leg. They watch as Wilson softly kisses Kim's forehead to wake her up.

"Hi…" Kim whispers, thinking it's Cuddy for a second.

"Hi sweetheart," Wilson whispers and kisses her lips. Kim brightens as Wilson's lips make contact with her.

"I am so happy to see you," Kim says as tears fill her eyes.

"How are things going?"

"Good, I am six centimeters dilated. No problems." Kim scoots over and lets Wilson sit on the bed with her. Then Kim proceeds to slap Wilson on the arm, hard.

"Ouch!" Wilson hisses and grabs his injured limb.

"That was for making me worry about you and almost getting arrested you idiot!"

"I am so sorry! At least we have an interesting story to tell him or her later," Wilson says. Everyone laughs weakly. House can tell by the way Cuddy is leaning on him that she is exhausted. He is guessing that she refused to get any real sleep until Wilson was back with Kim.

"Wilson, Cuddy and I are going to take the kids home. Do you want us to take your brats too?" Cuddy nudges House in the ribs for his comment, but Wilson is unfazed.

"Sure, that would be great. We will call you when we know the baby is here and healthy." Cuddy stands up and picks Emma up. Wilson hands House Ian and his diaper bag.

"Thanks so much Cuddy," Wilson says with appreciation.

"I know you and Kim would do the same for House and I. However, if you ever to that to Kim again, I will make sure she puts you on a leash," Cuddy says with a slight edge in her voice.

"Understood,"

They wake the twins up so they can see Wilson and explain to them that House and Cuddy are going to take them to their house for a little bit. The twins were reluctant at first, but Wilson promised them that House and Cuddy will bring them back to see the baby.

"Be good boys," Wilson warns.

"Kay Daddy," The twins say at the same time and hug their father.

"It's like you have them programmed or something," House remarks. Cuddy nudges him in the ribs again.

"Ow, stop it woman," House remarks.

"Stop being an ass and I will stop nudging you,"

"I like it rough," Cuddy rolls her eyes and escorts the kids out of the room. House follows close behind her, enjoying his view of Cuddy's hips sashaying back and forth. Cuddy can feel House's eyes tracking her, but refuses to turn around. They load the kids into both cars and drive back to their house.

"Let's just bring them down to the basement, the sleeping bags are still set up there," Cuddy says to House.

"Okay, I guess I don't have to play Call of Duty tonight," House fake pouts. Cuddy rolls her eyes and brings the kids to the elevator. They get the kids situated on the floor and the grownups cuddle on the couch.

"So I had a lot of time to think in the hospital today…" Cuddy starts as she feels House wrap an arm around her.

"Oh boy…" House groans, not liking the start of their conversation already.

"You haven't even heard what I was going to say so shut up,"

"The last time you started a conversation like that we ended up with a second child and a new house."

"And those were all good things right? Exactly." Cuddy doesn't even wait for House to respond before she starts again, "Anyway, what I was going to say before you rudely interrupted me was I think that we should write our own wedding vows." House takes a second to think of what Cuddy just said before he responds.

"Okay,"

"Okay? Really? That was easier than I thought," House shrugs,

"If it makes you happy then I will write my vows. Just don't be upset when I tell everyone that the only reason I am marrying you is for your big ass."

"The only reason I am marrying you is for your big…" House looks down at her, "movie collection," Cuddy says and smiles up at House.

"We should probably sleep before Wilson calls us," House says in the midst of a yawn.

"Good idea," Cuddy quickly falls asleep on House's chest and House slips into sleep a few moments after Cuddy. About three hours later, House's phone blares "Dancing Queen" by ABBA.

"That's Wilson!" House says and snatches the phone off of the coffee table. Cuddy rubs her eyes and looks down at the still sleeping kids.

"Ok…yeah…alright…you are such a girl…okay…we will there soon," House hangs up the phone and smiles at Cuddy.

"Wilson says that he has the cutest little baby ever, what a woman. Since it's about six in the morning, I was thinking pancakes and then hospital?"

"I think that sounds like a good idea," Cuddy says and starts to wake up the kids.

"Who wants pancakes?" House asks.

"ME!" Emma, Daniel and Terri yell at the same time, now fully alert.

"That works," Cuddy quips while picking up Ian. Everyone heads upstairs for diaper changes and food. After breakfast House and Cuddy get the kids dressed and they head back to PPTH sans Ian who is being watched by Marina.

"Oh my god! She is adorable!" Cuddy squeals at the sight of Wilson and Kim's baby girl.

"Thank god she looks nothing like Wilson," House comments.

"Baby!" Terri says and points at the little girl in Kim's arms.

"What's her name?" Cuddy asks.

"Sophia Renee," Wilson says and smiles down at his daughter.

"Can I hold her?" Cuddy asks.

"Of course," Kim passes Sophia to Wilson who in turn hands her to Cuddy.

"Hi Sophia, I'm your aunt." House picks Emma up so she can get a look at the baby.

"Awww so cute," Emma says. House puts her down and looks at Cuddy who is falling more in love with Sophia after every second. _Oh crap, she had that same look on her face when she was holding one of the twins. She wants another baby. _House isn't going to mention anything to Cuddy until after the wedding. He will just have to ignore Cuddy's not so subtle hints for now.

"Hey Daddy," Emma says, breaking him out of his reverie. House looks down at her and notices that she is holding Daniel's hand, which he isn't happy about.

"What's up Emma?"

"Daniel and I are havin a baby," Emma declares. Wilson bursts out laughing but is silenced by House's death glare.

"Yeah!" Daniel says with confidence.

"Wilson if you don't get your dopey eyed son away from my daughter in the next two seconds, you will have two children instead of three," House says in a serious tone.

"Oh come on House, they are kids. Emma has no idea what she is talking about," Cuddy says and hands Sophia back to Wilson.

"Fine, I don't like the hand holding though," House uses his cane to break Emma and Daniel's hands apart.

"I can just picture Emma in about twenty years coming home with some tattooed guy saying she is in love with him and House beating the guy to death with his cane," Wilson muses.

"Twenty? Try at least thirty," House says, lightening up a little.

"At least you're not overprotective of your daughter or anything," Wilson sarcastically.

"Shut up or I will beat you with my cane," House says and twirls his cane threateningly.

**A/N 2: That's all for today! Next chapter is the rehearsal dinner and part one of the wedding. Only three chapters left! Please review while you can. Thanks for reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I am so sorry that I am bad at updating. Thank you so much for your kind reviews. We are closing in on the last few chapters. Just a quick note, Julia, Cuddy's sister, remarried to a man named Tom and has four kids. This is part one of the wedding and I hope you enjoy. **

**Chapter Nine- It's A Long Walk…**

One more day. That's it, just one. One more day until Lisa Cuddy will marry Gregory House. After more than twenty years of arguing, bantering, will-they-won't-they sexual tension, tomorrow they will be husband and wife. It's exhilarating and terrifying at the same time for both of them. Although Cuddy is slightly more excited than House, but that's okay as long as House says "I do" tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, Cuddy has a final dress fitting today which is why she is taking a half day. Wilson is going to assume the role of interim Dean of Medicine and Foreman is going to take over House's position until the couple gets back from their honeymoon.

"Unless you idiots can come up with something to save our patient, I am not getting married tomorrow." House grumbles and stares at the whiteboard. The patient, who is an eight year old boy, presents with fever, low white count, chills and seizures.

"It's got to be bacterial because the fever is too low for it to be viral," Thirteen says and takes a sip of her coffee.

"I think it's environmental," House breaks his staring contest with the whiteboard to look at the team.

"That's impossible, the kid has never left the country and hasn't strayed far from the suburbs," Taub argues.

"How do you know? Were the parents in the room when you took the history?" House asks to which Taub nods.

"Get the parents out of the room and push the kid harder, I know he is lying." House tells the team and retreats to his office. However, he sees the team still seated at the conference table so he goes back in there.

"Were my instructions not clear or do I need to write it down?" House snaps.

"Aren't this kid parents a donor to this hospital?" Chase inquires.

"I'll take care of the wrath of Cuddy, you just do as your told," The team seems to accept this answer and disperses. House decides to pay a visit to Wilson, who just got back from paternity leave.

"You're back!" House exclaims and steals a bag of chips that are lying on Wilson's desk.

"Yes and I see you have already fallen back into your old habits quickly," Wilson says and points to the chips.

"You bought these for me as bait to come in here and ask about your new spawn,"

"Wow, that was very insightful of you,"

"Don't mention it, you should have conned Cuddy into giving you more time off,"

"If I did that, you wouldn't be able to get married or go on your honeymoon,"

"Shit, I forgot about that damn wedding,"

"_That_ wedding? It's _your _wedding,"

"No, it's the beginning of the end of my sex life," Wilson laughs and shakes his head.

"House, it's not going to be that bad,"

"You would know, you have done it four times,"

"I am going to choose to ignore that comment, and ask you how your case is going."

"I am about to get yelled at by Cuddy for badgering a donor's kid."

"Don't piss her off, she won't marry you,"

"Puh, Cuddy would marry me just to teach me a lesson," Wilson smiles as House's phone on the table vibrates.

"So predictable," House mutters and flips the phone open. Wilson can hear Cuddy yelling at House who is mimicking every word of her rant.

"Be right down honey," House says sarcastically into the phone and hangs up on her.

"She is going to kill you," Wilson comments as House slams the door behind him.

"Is that the bastard who had his team interrogate an innocent child?" The donor yells at House as he steps into Cuddy's office.

"Dr. House, pleasure to meet you," House says and holds out his hand for the donor to shake. The man slaps House's hand away and glares at House and Cuddy.

"I guess you don't shake hands." House looks over at Cuddy who is staring back at him with rage.

"My son is an eight year old boy, not a criminal." The donor says to House.

"Please understand that Dr. House was acting in the best interest of your child," Cuddy placates.

"I want him off the case or I will take my money elsewhere," The donor snaps at Cuddy and slams the door behind him. Cuddy heavily sighs and looks at House in annoyance.

"You just have to make things hard for yourself don't you?" Cuddy asks.

"Oh come on Cuddy, the only reason he is this mad is because he is hiding something."

"House, I am not going to kick you off the case, but you need to stay away from the family for the duration. Can you do that?"

"I don't want to be anywhere near that crazy family anyway."

"Perfect," Cuddy mutters sarcastically.

"Cuddy, I might not make it to dinner tonight," House says as he is leaving.

"House, it's our rehearsal dinner; you have to be there."

"I will do my best, but you might have to deal with our mothers by yourself," Cuddy makes a face at House,

"How could you, as my future husband, subject me to such torture?" A ghost of a smile chases across House's face.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you will pay me back once we are married," Cuddy lightly kisses him on the lips and walks out of her office, finding herself late for her fitting.

"Your ass better look scrumptious in that wedding dress!" House calls out after her. Cuddy turns around and shoots him a lopsided smile. House leaves Cuddy's office and returns to his own where his team is waiting for him.

"Told you that was going to happen," Taub comments.

"Cuddy has calmed down now, thanks to me."

"You were the one who caused her panic in the first place," Chase says.

"Calm down Aussie, Cuddy has tied our hands, which is not as sexy as it sounds. You guys are going to run gels and search this brat's hangout spots." The team shrugs and leaves to go do their task. House goes back to Wilson's office and slumps down in his usual chair.

"Back so soon? Did Cuddy cancel the wedding?"

"No, she told me to remind you that our stupid dinner thing is tonight," Wilson squints as he notices House fidgeting.

"Are you nervous about something?" Wilson asks.

"No," House snaps and immediately leaves.

After Cuddy's fitting, she stops home to pick up the kids and head to the airport.

"Mommy! We go pick up gammas!" Emma exclaims from her car seat.

"No Emmy," Ian says, enjoying the fact he can talk. Cuddy laughs at Emma and Ian's interaction.

"Shut up Ian!" Emma says back. Cuddy is taken aback, where did Emma learn that from?

"Emma, where did you learn that?" Cuddy asks with curiosity.

"Daddy says it to Uncle Wheelson," Emma explains.

"Emma, it's not nice to say that to people. I am going to have to yell at daddy for that later. You need to say sorry to your brother." Cuddy says. Emma pouts and crosses her arms, but her mother is unrelenting.

"Sorry Ian," Emma says, although she doesn't mean a word of it. Ian doesn't say anything back because he fell asleep. Cuddy closes the door to the backseat, gets into the driver's seat and starts the car. Cuddy texts House to see how his case is going, but doesn't receive an immediate response.

"Emma are you excited for tomorrow?" Cuddy asks about halfway to the airport.

"Yeah, mommy and daddy are m…muh…" Emma trails off, not remembering the word.

"Married," Cuddy fills in for her.

"Yeah, that," Emma says and smiles.

"Go to sleep sweetie, we will be there soon," Cuddy looks in the rearview mirror and sees her daughter's eyelid's drooping slightly.

Cuddy pulls into the airport twenty minutes later and starts looking for Blythe and Arlene. She spots them on the curb with Arlene laughing at something Blythe just said. Cuddy is shocked, she expected Blythe and Arlene to not like each other at all, because of their contrasting personalities.

"Hi dear, we were just talking about you," Arlene says as Cuddy's van pulls up alongside the curb.

"Hi mom, Mrs. House," Cuddy gets out of the car and helps the older women load their luggage into the trunk.

"Oh, Lisa before I forget to tell you, Julia is taking a later flight because Tom has an emergency meeting with a client."

"That's fine mom, as long as she gets here before the wedding," The ladies pile into the van and try not to wake Emma and Ian.

"They are just adorable aren't they?" Arlene turns around and says softly to Blythe.

"I know, Ian looks exactly like Greg when he was a baby," Blythe whispers and reaches out to touch Ian's tiny hand. From the front seat, Cuddy dials House who is back in the conference room with the team.

"House," House says distractedly into the phone.

"Hey it's me; I picked up our moms and we are headed to the restaurant now. When are you going to be able to get here?" House ignores the teams questioning looks and walks into his private office.

"Uh…a new symptom came in so I am in the middle of a differential now." Cuddy tries her best not to get frustrated with House, he is just doing his job, but when cases come up, they consume every part of him.

"Okay, so…half an hour? Hour?" Cuddy asks. House sighs and shrugs,

"Probably about twenty minutes, we are almost done. I'll get Wilson and then we will head over there."

"Okay, they probably won't give us a table until you get here anyway so try to be as quick as you can,"

"I will,"

"House?"

"Yeah,"

"I know you are doing the best you can and I love you for it,"

"I know,"

"Ass,"

"I know,"

"I am hanging up now,"

"I love you Cuddy,"

"Thank you,"

Cuddy hangs up with a grin on her face. As downright annoying and unbearable as House can be sometimes, well most of the time, it's worth it to her.

"Is Greg going to meet us there?" Arlene asks.

"Yeah, Wilson and House are coming in about twenty minutes."

"For now, treat him for encephalitis and call me if his condition changes," House rules and heads to Wilson's office.

"You ready?" Wilson asks.

"Sadly, yes," Wilson grabs his car keys from his desk and follows House to his car.

"Where is your motorcycle?" Wilson asks, noticing the "death trap" missing from House's assigned parking spot.

"It wouldn't start this morning so I had Cuddy take me to work,"

"Where are we going?" Wilson says as they are getting into the car.

"Some restaurant Cuddy picked out called Casa Capri,"

"Oh they have the best eggplant ravioli!" Wilson squeals and backs out of his parking spot.

"I really want to go home and play _Call of Duty_." House complains.

"It won't be that bad House,"

"You have never been in a room with Cuddy, her mom and my mom then,"

"No, but you will survive,"

"Doubt it. Arlene will probably tell the waiter to put cyanide into my food,"

"I thought she liked you after you read Cuddy's eulogy at her father's funeral,"

"Oh I stopped that train as soon as I could. I can deal with her hating me, but not her liking me,"

"That doesn't make sense,"

"It's simple Wilson, I want her to fear me and respect me, not think I am some ass-kissing, sap like Julia's husband, Tim."

"I thought his name was Tom,"

"Whatever it is, you are missing the point,"

"Oh, I got your point, but wouldn't it make Cuddy happier if you two were getting along?"

"I told her a long time ago that I will never get along with that woman. She is Satan and Cuddy understands that,"

"So you are being selfish,"

"Exactly, but it serves a purpose,"

"I am sure Arlene will see it that way,"

"We will have to ask her when we get there."

"We are about five minutes away,"

When House and Wilson walk in they see Cuddy, the kids and their moms at a long table in the middle of the restaurant. House and Wilson sit down next to Cuddy. Arlene and Blythe are next to Emma and Ian on the other side of the table.

"Greg, James, how nice of you to join us," Arlene says and smiles at the pair.

"Sorry we were late, House had a patient," Wilson apologizes for the both of them, a common occurrence over the years.

"We understand, I was just about to Arlene and Lisa about the time you proposed to a girl when you were about eight. Do you remember that Gregory?" House groans, much to Cuddy and Arlene's amusement.

"Mom, do you really have to share that story? It's stupid,"

"Oh nonsense, it was cute," Blythe says.

"I want to hear it," Cuddy says and receives a nudge from House.

"Ow! What?" Cuddy whispers to House.

"Don't enable her, unless you want mommy dearest to tell me some stories about you," House threatens Cuddy back.

"I am not embarrassed," Cuddy challenges House.

"I don't believe you,"

"Well then I guess you will have to test that theory," Cuddy whispers in his ear and kisses his cheek.

"Is everything alright? You guys seem awful secretive over there," Arlene comments as she is feeding Ian some baby food.

"Yeah mom everything is fine, Greg is just a little embarrassed, that's all," Cuddy gives House a victorious smile and asks Blythe to tell the story.

"When Greg was little there was this little girl that lived down the street from us…" Blythe starts telling the story.

"This is bad," House whispers over to Wilson who is trying to hear Blythe over the noise of the restaurant.

"What? Everyone is getting along," Wilson whispers back.

"God you are dense, that is the problem. My mother and the devil have become insta-friends. Do you realize how bad this is for me?"

"You are being so overdramatic, just relax,"

"No, it would be better if Arlene didn't like my mother because then she wouldn't have any embarrassing stories to hang over my head. I need blackmail," House breaks off and thinks of a way to get back at Arlene.

"House, no, blackmail never ends well for you,"

"We will see, drink up Wilson, you look a little tense," House wraps an arm around Cuddy and pretends to listen to Arlene and Blythe exchanging stories about the couple. The rest of the dinner runs smoothly according to Cuddy and disastrous according to House.

"I'll see you back at the house," Cuddy says and squeezes House's hand as she stands up to leave with the kids and Arlene.

"Okay, we are going to stop at Wilsons', my mom wants to see Kim and the kids." House says to her.

"Tell Kim that she is welcome to bring the kids over if she wants,"

"Ew, we don't want the bimbo at our house," House jokes.

"Shut up, don't keep your mom and Wilson waiting,"

"Good idea, my mom might tell him more weird stuff about me,"

House and Cuddy walk out to the parking lot and go to their separate cars.

"What was that all about?" Wilson asks as House climbs into the Volvo.

"We thought it was rude to talk about how ugly you are in front of you, so we did it while you were out here," House deflects.

"Gregory, what a horrible thing to say!" Blythe says in horror. Wilson, however, is unfazed,

"Don't worry Mrs. House, he is just grumpy because he didn't get his afternoon nap," Wilson teases.

"My poor baby, is Lisa being mean to you at work?" Blythe says and tousles House's hair.

"Yeah, you should beat her up for me mom," Blythe laughs,

"I'll get right on that sweetheart," House turns around and offers a genuine smile to his mother, which she returns. He is so happy that she has developed such a personality after John died. She is no longer under an oppressive, controlling man and is allowed to do whatever she wants with who she wants. Blythe has made such an effort to see Emma and Ian as much as she can and actually enjoy being a grandmother.

Visits with John were short lived and tension filled. He never settled into the role of being a grandfather and made things difficult for everyone around him. Blythe is the complete opposite and dotes on Emma and Ian as every grandmother should to their grandkids.

"House, we are here," Wilson says to House who has been silent and staring out the window for the past ten minutes.

"Thanks Wilson, I had no idea what your place looked like," House snarks and gets out of the car.

"Hey Kim, I am home and brought company," Wilson yells upstairs.

"Daddy!" The twins yell as they bound down the stairs.

"Your boys have grown so much since the last time I saw them," Blythe says.

"Boys, this is House's mom. Can you say hi to Mrs. House?" Wilson says.

"Hi," The boys say at the same time and go into the living room where Kim and Sophia are.

"Hi Mrs. House, you will have to excuse the mess, I haven't had time to clean yet." Kim says apologetically and hands Sophia over to Wilson.

"Damn, your boobs are huge," House exclaims.

"Gee thanks for the compliment House," Kim says sarcastically. Blythe is too busy holding Sophia to pay attention to what House just said.

"Welcome, they might be even bigger than Cuddy's," House says. Kim rolls her eyes, grabs a baggy sweatshirt that was on the couch and puts it on.

"I ruined all your fun didn't I?" Kim asks and sticks her tongue out at House.

"Nope, at least I have Cuddy,"

"Thank god for that," Kim quips and goes into the kitchen to grab a bottle for Sophia.

"So what are you guys doing here? I thought there was supposed to be a rehearsal dinner or something," Kim inquires as she hands the bottle over to Blythe who feeds Sophia.

"I caught Cuddy in bed with a donor so the wedding is off, I thought my mom and I could move in here for a few days," House says jokingly.

"I knew that Cuddy wouldn't last with you," Kim jokes back, "but seriously, why are you guys here?"

"My mom wanted to see your kids, god knows why, and I am supposed to invite you back to my place."

"Oh okay, let me get a bag together for the kids," Kim disappears upstairs and comes down ten minutes later with a diaper bag full of stuff.

"I didn't say you were moving into my place, Kim," House says as he looks at the overflowing bag.

"You try having two year olds and a newborn and not prepare for everything. Let's go," Everyone piles into Kim and Wilson's cars to head back to House and Cuddy's place.

"We're back with more people!" House announces as they walk in the front door.

"Hi guys!" Emma exclaims as she sees the twins.

"Emmy!" The twins shout and rush over to Emma.

"Let's go upstairs," Emma says and they follow her to the elevator.

"Not too long boys, we have a big day tomorrow," Kim warns.

"Can I hold her?" Cuddy asks gesturing towards Sophia.

"Kim you better not make Cuddy want another one of those," House says.

"Oh it's way too late for that," Cuddy says to House, whose eyes widen.

"Way to go Lisa," Arlene cheers her daughter on, ignoring the glare from House.

"Oh wait, Wilson, I wanted to talk to you about something real quick. Do you mind?" Cuddy asks and hands Sophia over to Kim. Arlene and Blythe announce that they are going to the store real quick to pick some things up for Cuddy.

"Not at all, where are we going?" Wilson asks.

"Let's go out on the patio," Cuddy suggests and opens the sliding glass door.

"If you want to have a quickie with Wilson Cuddy, all you had to do was say so," House jokes.

"Oh okay, I'll remember that for next time," Cuddy says and shuts the door in his face.

"What's up Cuddy?" Wilson asks, noticing how scared Cuddy looks.

"I want to ask you something and its okay if you say no, I will understand," Cuddy says hastily.

"I won't say anything until you tell me what it is,"

"I was wondering…if you would walk me down the aisle tomorrow," Cuddy says and thanks God that Wilson can't see her blushing.

"Of course I will," Wilson says instantly.

"Thank you!" Cuddy hugs Wilson. Wilson wonders why Cuddy would think he would say no, she is like the sister he never had. He is thankful that House has her in his life because Wilson honestly believes his friend wouldn't have survived without her.

"It would be an honor Cuddy, seriously." Cuddy and Wilson hear a doorbell and Kim yelling at House to get the door. They burst into laughter as they hear House walk to the door in protest.

"I bet that is Julia, we better go inside and say hi," Cuddy says, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Kim and I better take the kids home, it's getting late. I will definitely see you tomorrow," Wilson opens the door for Cuddy and follows her inside. Julia, Tom and their four kids are depositing their bags next to Arlene's on the couch.

"Hi guys!" Cuddy exclaims.

"Auntie Lisa!" Julia's kids, Sarah, Derrick, Kate and Jessica exclaim and run over to hug Cuddy.

"Kim, I am going to go get the boys, I think it's time to go." Wilson whispers to Kim who is putting Sophia into her car seat.

"Okay, good idea," Kim whispers back. Wilson heads upstairs via the elevator and track his kids' voices into Emma's room.

"Uncle Wheelson, we play doctor!" Emma says and points to Daniel, who is lying down on Emma's bed, pretending to be sick.

"That's great Emma, but it's time for us to leave. Say goodbye to Emma boys,"

"Bye boys," Emma says and hugs both of them. Daniel kisses her on the cheek, and Wilson is so lucky that House wasn't here to see that. He would have carried out his threat of beating Daniel with his cane.

"Bye Uncle Wheelson, I see you tomorrow. Mommy and Daddy are married tomorrow!" Emma squeals and hugs her uncle.

"Bye Emma, see you tomorrow," Emma follows the Wilson's downstairs and is ecstatic to see that she has four new playmates waiting for her.

"Mommy?" Emma's tiny voice questions from her place behind Wilson.

"Sweetie it's okay, these are your cousins." Cuddy can tell that Emma is wary, having met Julia and her family only once two and a half years ago when Julia was still married to Jack.

"Cuzin? What dat mommy?" Emma asks and approaches her new family seated on the living room couch.

"I don't mean to interrupt this pow-wow, but Wilson and I are going to take the kids home. We will see you bright and early tomorrow." Kim says and waves goodbye to everyone. House walks out with them and rejoins Cuddy's family a few minutes later.

"A cousin is like what the twins are, but Auntie Julia's kids are actually related to us. They are our family," Cuddy explains in the best way she can.

"Oh, okay. I'm Emma House, and I'm this many," Emma holds out three fingers for all to see. Julia laughs at her adorable niece, a spitting image of her mother when she was three.

"Hi Emma, I am your Aunt Julia. This is Sarah who is 13, Kate who is 7, Derrick who is 10, and Jessica who is 2. This is your Uncle Tom," Julia points to the dark haired man in his mid forties who is sitting on the opposite side of the couch of Julia.

"Hi, dis is my broder, Ian," Emma points to the floor where Ian is ignoring everyone and playing with his new construction toy.

"He is so cute Lise," Julia says and scoops up Ian of the floor. Ian, not liking the fact he is separated from his toy, lurches toward the floor. Julia understands and returns him to his rightful spot next to his truck. Cuddy smiles appreciatively at Julia and notices that Blythe and Arlene have returned from the store.

"Hi mom," Julia says and runs to help with the bags.

"Hi dear, this is Greg's mom, Blythe House," Arlene introduces Blythe who shakes hands with Julia.

"Hi, I am Julia Richardson, Lisa's sister." Julia says.

"Nice to meet you, I can see that you have a beautiful family," Blythe says sweetly as she is putting the groceries away.

"Oh thank you, do you need help?" Julia asks the women who shake their heads no.

"Okay, well come into the living room when you are finished." Julia rejoins everyone in the living room.

"Did they need help?" Cuddy asks Julia.

"No, they are fine."

"Okay, I am going to put the kids to bed," Cuddy smiles as she feels House's arm wrap tighter around her, almost as a dare to get up.

"House let me go," Cuddy says and playfully nudges House.

"Fine…which kid are you taking tonight?" House asks.

"I have more energy for a temper tantrum tonight, so I will take Emma. You can have the future construction worker," House nods and picks up Ian (and his toy) while Cuddy picks up Emma who is reluctant.

"Mommy no bed, I not tired!" Emma exclaims and tries to break free of Cuddy's grasp.

"You are going to be up early tomorrow and without a nap, you need all the sleep you can get." Cuddy is unrelenting as she takes the elevator to Emma's room.

"Pwease mommy," Emma gives her best puppy dog face.

"I am sorry honey. You get to stay up extra late tomorrow, I promise,"

"Pinky pwomise?" Emma asks as Cuddy is tucking her into bed. Cuddy holds out her pinky for Emma to grab.

"Goodnight sweetie, I'll see you in the morning," Cuddy kisses Emma's forehead and closes the door behind her. Cuddy bumps into House who comes out of Ian's room looking exhausted.

"He go down okay?" Cuddy asks.

"Yeah, I had to let him sleep with his toy though,"

"Typical," Cuddy mutters as they ride the elevator downstairs.

"I think everyone is going to go to bed, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow," Julia says.

"Okay, let me know if you need anything, but everything should be set downstairs." Cuddy says.

"Don't worry Lisa, we can handle it, goodnight." Julia, Tom, Arlene, Blythe and the kids go downstairs while House and Cuddy go up to the master bedroom. Cuddy can tell that House is irritated that he hasn't solved the case yet. The last Cuddy heard from House is that the patient isn't responding to the antibiotics yet. However, from now until two weeks from now, it's Foreman's patient and Wilson's job to oversee the treatment.

"House, it's okay that you didn't solve the case. We have more important things to worry about right now." Cuddy says as they are getting into bed.

"Oh my god, like what?" House asks jokingly.

"Shut up, I talked to Wilson."

"Let me guess, he said that it would be his honor to walk you down the aisle,"

"How did you…"

"Wilson cannot resist a damsel in distress which is why his marriages failed in the past."

"It's good to know that I am a damsel in distress,"

"You are a smoking hot damsel in distress,"

"Goodnight House,"

"Goodnight Cuddy,"

"Just think, tomorrow you will be saying, 'goodnight Mrs. House,'" Cuddy says dreamily.

"No, I will still call you Cuddy. House and House sound too confusing."

"Whatever happened to Greg and Lisa?" Cuddy asks.

"It's sounds too…_domesticated_." Cuddy laughs at the ridiculousness of House's word choice.

"House, we have two kids and we live in the suburbs. We are the epitome of domestication."

"Which is exactly why calling each other by our surnames adds a little edge to our boring life."

"I literally can't argue with you anymore,"

"I. Win." House says while yawning.

"Goodnight," Cuddy says to a now asleep House.

The alarm in House and Cuddy's bedroom blares at seven thirty. Cuddy is already awake and shuts the alarm off, letting House sleep for a little while longer. She can hear Arlene and Blythe talking to the kids in the kitchen, hopefully feeding them breakfast. Cuddy decides to jump in the shower while she can and wake up House once she is done.

A half an hour later, Cuddy wakes House up and drags him to the kitchen so they can have a decent breakfast before everything gets crazy.

"There are the bride and groom," Blythe announces and slides two plates filled with scrambled eggs and bacon to House and Cuddy.

"Thanks," House and Cuddy say and munch on their food.

"So, what's the schedule look like for today?" Arlene asks.

"All of the boys are going to Wilson's to get ready while Kim comes here with Sophia. Everyone is meeting at the Four Seasons at twelve because the ceremony starts at one." Cuddy says.

"Sounds like fun," Blythe comments.

"Have you heard from your team at all House? Are they all coming to the wedding?"

"Foreman texted me that the patient has muscle weakness which will develop into paralysis soon, so I don't know who is coming and who is staying behind."

"I'm sorry House," Cuddy whispers and rubs his back.

"I'm not, it doesn't matter to me if they are there," House says. Cuddy doesn't believe it for a second; she knows that House likes his team way more than he lets on.

"Well I hope they can make it," Cuddy says and puts her half eaten dish into the sink.

"Is Tom and Derrick ready to go to Wilson's?" House asks Cuddy.

"Not yet they just got up, give them like fifteen minutes?" Cuddy says.

"Fine, I'll go get Ian up and ready," House says and takes the elevator upstairs.

"Where's Emma, mom?" Cuddy asks Arlene.

"She ate her breakfast and then went upstairs to play. I wouldn't get her unless you are getting her dressed, she is way too excited." Cuddy smiles and shakes her head,

"I think Emma is more excited than I am right now," Cuddy comments.

"Don't worry, you are just nervous," Arlene brushes it off and cleans up the plates from breakfast.

"Thanks mom, I better go see how House is doing," Cuddy excuses herself upstairs and meets House in Ian's room.

"How is he doing?" Cuddy asks.

"I think we might have to bring his truck with him, that's all he has been saying this morning," House says as he is changing Ian's diaper.

"That's fine with me, as long as he is talking," Cuddy says.

"Don't you have a wedding to get ready for?"

"The hair and makeup lady isn't coming until nine, so I have nothing to do until then,"

"Slacker,"

"Takes one to know one," Cuddy retorts childishly and sticks her tongue out at House. Ian laughs at Cuddy and reaches out for his mother.

"Looks like our son wants you instead of me, have fun," House flees the room leaving the diaper half changed.

"Your daddy is so lazy Ian," Cuddy coos as she is changing his diaper and getting him dressed.

"Daddy," Ian babbles.

Around nine House and Tom bring their kids over to Wilson's while Kim drives over to Cuddy's with Sophia.

"Hey Kim, I thought you were the hair and makeup lady," Cuddy says and lets Kim in.

"Sorry to disappoint," Kim sets the car seat down on the floor of the living room. Cuddy peeks in to see Sophia sleeping peacefully.

"She is adorable," Cuddy says.

"You can't have her, she is mine." Kim jokes and slides the car seat closer to her.

"Darn, there goes my plan to kidnap her," Cuddy jokes. The pair are interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

"Oh there's the lady! Mom! Jules!" Cuddy yells and runs to the door.

"Hi, I am Annie," The older lady at the door says.

"Hi, I'm Lisa, come in," Cuddy opens the door wider to let Annie in.

"Do you want to put on your wedding dress first or last?" Annie asks.

"Last, it zips up," Cuddy says.

"Alright, let's get started."

Over at Wilson's the guys are playing poker, wasting time before they have to get dressed and head over to the Four Seasons.

"I can't believe today is the day you get married House, congratulations," Wilson says.

"I wish I could have alcohol," House mutters and throws a chip in.

"I got drunk on my wedding day and Julia almost left me at the altar," Tom says.

"Why didn't she?" Wilson asks politely.

"I have no idea," Tom says.

"I like him Wilson, he is a good poker player," House comments and reveals his hand.

"Damn it," Tom whispers and passes his chips over to House.

"Just kidding," House remarks and grabs a cigar.

"Hey, those are for the reception," Wilson whines and reaches over to take the cigar out of House's mouth.

"Too bad, Tim, would you like a cigar?" House asks.

"It's Tom…"

At noon, both parties meet at the Four Seasons in different conference rooms to do final preparations. Foreman texts House and says that they gave the patient plasmapherisis for Guillian Barre and all the members of the team will be there shortly. House doubts it is Guillian Barre, but he is too distracted to care. Wilson is trying to stop House from pacing so Wilson can pin his corsage onto him.

"It's hard to do this on a moving target House, will you sit down?" Wilson exclaims.

"Can't, leg hurts," House mutters and keeps pacing.

"Have you ever thought that your leg hurts because you are pacing?"

"No," House mutters.

Thirteen sneaks into the girls conference room to quickly get dressed and ready while Taub, Foreman and Chase go on the guys side to receive their tuxes.

House looks out at the guests who are starting to arrive and smiles when he sees Stacey sit down with what he assumes is a new boyfriend. Wilson follows House's gaze and his jaw drops when he spots Stacey.

"House are you insane? Why the hell did you invite Stacey? Cuddy is going to freak out!" Wilson yells.

"Would you relax? Cuddy was the one who invited her."

"Why would she do that? The last time Cuddy saw Stacey was when she was pregnant with Emma and we all know how that turned out."

"They made up and have been talking intermittently ever since, are you done yelling at me now?"

"Not quite, stand still!" Wilson quickly pins the corsage on and steps back to see if anyone needs help.

By quarter to one, both genders are all ready to walk down the aisle. The majority of the guests have arrived, but Cuddy wants to wait till one to start.

"Alright, it's one. Let's do this," Cuddy announces. She can see House from a distance standing at the front of the banquet hall and smiles. He looks handsome with his black tux with a ocean blue corsage pinned on the lapel.

The doors swing open with Foreman and Thirteen leading the procession down the aisle. Julia and Tom follow with Kim and Chase leading behind them. It was originally supposed to be Kim and Wilson, but alterations had to be made because Wilson is walking Cuddy down the aisle. Wilson's adorable twins trail behind Kim and Chase with each of them holding a pillow with a ring on it. Emma, the flower girl, follows in a white dress with a matching blue colored sash tied around her waist. Cuddy prays that nobody will notice that Emma is wearing sneakers, as her daughter refused to wear the flats Cuddy had picked out for her.

Emma complained they were too tight and luckily someone had brought a pair of her tennis shoes from Cuddy's house.

"Are you ready for this?" Wilson whispers into Cuddy's ear as the congregation stand up and the trademark piece starts playing.

"Let's go," Cuddy says and they start walking into the banquet hall. House's breath hitches as he looks upon Cuddy. Her makeup is minimal and her hair is up with a few ringlets framing her face. The dress that House picked out for her really compliments her figure and he can tell that she really loves it.

"Close your mouth, you look like a fish," Foreman whispers in House's ear. House turns around to glare at him and then quickly turns his attention back to Cuddy. When they approach the front of the hall, Wilson kisses Cuddy on the cheek and stands next to Chase.

"You may all be seated," The Justice of the Peace tells the small audience.

"We are gathered here today for the marriage of Lisa Cuddy and Gregory House. I was told by House to skip all the 'boring religious crap' but this is my ceremony so I will officiate it however I want." The Justice says eliciting laughter from the crowd.

"All I want to say is I have heard from many people today that it is about time that you two have decided to get married and they couldn't be happier for you two. Now, I believe you guys wanted to say your own vows, who is going first?" The Justice asks and looks from House to Cuddy.

"Ladies first," House says and looks at Cuddy.

"Age before beauty," Cuddy remarks and squeezes House's hand.

"Oh, she is just shy, I guess I will have to go first," House says and winks at Cuddy.

"Cuddy, I have known you since you stepped into that bookstore at the University of Michigan. You are way too smart and stubborn for your own good. You have saved me on countless occasions, probably more than you should have. I am thankful that we have two awesome spawns together and we get to spend every day with each other until one of us is six feet under. I love you way more than I will ever admit and thank you." House slips the ring onto Cuddy's finger and wipes away the tears that are starting to fall.

"You are going to smear your makeup if you keep crying," House whispers to her.

"Shush, it's my turn now. House, we have been in each other's lives for over twenty years now and I am so lucky to have met you. It's true when I told you that you are the most incredible man I have ever known. I vow to always be there for you even when you push me away. I know that we will annoy each other more times than not, but I love you and you are totally worth it. _We _are totally worth it. I love you." Cuddy slips the ring on House's finger.

"Marshmallow," House whispers.

"I was about to say the same thing to you," Cuddy whispers back.

"Are you two done talking now?" The Justice of the Peace asks.

"She threatened me," House teases and squeezes Cuddy's hand.

"By the power vested in me by the state of New Jersey, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride," The Justice of the Peace says. House gently caresses Cuddy's face and gives her a toe curling kiss. Wilson clears his throat after a few seconds and the couple part.

"That kiss is going to bite you in the ass later," Cuddy whispers and watches the gears turn in House's head. She of all people knows what that look means.

"Go solve the case House, I will be here waiting." Cuddy tells him and gives him a kiss.

"I will be right back. Foreman, Chase, Thirteen and Shorty, let's go." House yells and points toward the exit.

**A/N 2: I hope you guys liked it. I don't know if I did the wedding ceremony right, I have only been to one wedding in my life. Next chapter is part two of the wedding. Only two chapters left, review while you can. Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thank you so much for all your reviews, I just love reading them. We are getting really close to the end, only one chapter left after this one. I hope you enjoy the second part of House and Cuddy's wedding!**

**Chapter Ten- …Down the Aisle**

"_That kiss is going to bite you in the ass later," Cuddy whispers and watches the gears turn in House's head. She of all people knows what that look means._

_ "Go solve the case House, I will be here waiting." Cuddy tells him and gives him a kiss._

_ "I will be right back. Foreman, Chase, Thirteen and Shorty, let's go." House yells and points toward the exit._

The team look at each other and then to House in confusion. Why is House leaving his wedding?

"House, where are we going?" Taub asks from his seat.

"To solve the case, now let's go so we can get back. I still have the reception to suffer through," House says and receives a jab to the side from Cuddy.

"We have been married for less than five minutes and you are already abusing me? Nice," House says sarcastically.

"You haven't seen anything yet. Now go before I change my mind," Cuddy says.

"You would let my patient die just to teach me a lesson?" House asks as the team is getting ready to leave.

"As your wife, yes, but as the Dean of Medicine, the board might be a little pissed if I did that." House smiles at her and turns to the team who has gathered near him.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road," House says.

"Why don't you just tell us what the patient has and we can treat him so you can stay here." Thirteen says.

"There is no fun in that. I like to see the look on the idiots faces when they are snatched back from the brink of death," House retorts and breaks through the team's circle.

"That makes sense," Chase mumbles and trails behind House with the rest of the team.

House and his team burst through the doors of PPTH determined to treat their patient. All the staff that couldn't make it to the wedding and patients in the lobby is wondering why there are four men in tuxedos and a girl in a bridesmaid dress. House is used to people at work staring at him, his relationship with Cuddy has made him the talk of PPTH. House tunes out the whispers and jabs at the elevator door.

They land on the third floor and walk into the patient's room. The father of the patient sees House and immediately stands up from his chair.

"What the hell are you doing here? Dr. Cuddy threw you off the case!" The father yells and takes a step towards House. Chase and Foreman take a few steps closer to House, prepared to deck the guy if they have to.

"That was opposite day, now can I tell you why I am here?" House insists, not having the patience to deal with this idiot anymore.

"No, I want you to get out of my sons room now, before I call security!" The man yells and points to the door. House would usually fight harder, but he just wants to get back to the Four Seasons so Cuddy doesn't kill him.

"Fine," House grumbles and steps outside. He sees a nurse walking by and snatches a notepad out of her hands. Then, House goes to the nurses station, grabs a pen, writes WEST NILE VIRUS in big letters on it and slams it against the glass of the patient's room. Taub excuses himself and steps outside of the room to talk to House.

"There's no treatment for that, we can only treat the symptoms and hope it doesn't kill the kid."

"Interferon is being considered for treatment, it's experimental, but the only shot this kid has." House says.

"I'll get consent and start it," Taub says and grabs a consent form from the nurses' station before stepping back into the patient room.

Within a half an hour the father signs the consent form and treatment is started. House and the team drive back to the Four Seasons hoping that the experimental treatment will work.

"House, you are just in time for pictures!" Cuddy says as soon as she sees him.

"I never agreed to pictures," House protests.

"Too bad, I got a photographer for the day and I don't want the money to go to waste,"

"Fine, but I am not smiling," Cuddy rolls her eyes and decides that that is as much as she can get from House.

"Follow me," Cuddy says and grabs House's arm. The rest of the team follow the couple outside to a gorgeous wooded area complete with a pond.

"Now I see why you insisted on this dump," House comments as he looks around. The rest of the small wedding party is having their pictures taken in small groups already.

"Well that and the reception area is gorgeous," The photographer finishes up with the Wilson family and gesture to the House, Cuddy and the team to come over towards the pond.

The photographer gets shots of House and Cuddy, House and Wilson, House and the team, House, Cuddy and their two mothers, House, Cuddy and Wilson and House and Cuddy with their children. Cuddy manages to get House to smile a few times, especially when they are taking pictures with Emma and Ian. Cuddy's favorite picture is of House giving her a kiss on the cheek and her flashing her signature lopsided smile in return.

Lacey, the person in charge of events at the Four Seasons appears outside and announces that the reception area is now ready. All of the guests take their seats and House and Cuddy are told to wait outside of banquet hall until they hear their name.

"Where are we going for our honeymoon?" Cuddy asks to pass the time.

"Be patient woman, you will find out soon enough," House tells her. Cuddy narrows her eyes at House,

"Why are you stalling?"

"You practically threw me out of the house this morning; I forgot to grab the tickets. I sent Wilson back to our place to get them. He should be here soon," Cuddy shakes her head and smiles at her husband.

"Typical," Cuddy whispers and wonders what is taking them so long.

"Why are we waiting for them to call our name anyway? This is our shindig," House questions.

"You will see, if they ever get this show on the road," Cuddy taps her foot impatiently.

"…Now presenting Mr. and Mrs. Gregory House!" The DJ yells into the microphone from inside.

"You have got to be kidding me," House whispers. Cuddy grabs his hand and yanks him into the room and to the table set up just for them. All of the guests are clapping and cheering for them. House rolls his eyes and sits down, dragging Cuddy to her seat as well.

"You just love to being the center of attention, don't you," House whispers in Cuddy's ear as the crowd settles down.

"I was taking a page out of your book, I thought you would be pleased that everyone is clapping for you," Cuddy whispers back.

Dinner is served and clusters of people come over to congratulate House and Cuddy. House hates this part, but tries to be gracious for Cuddy. Stacey comes over and hugs both House and Cuddy.

"It's about damn time," Stacey says in a southern accent.

"Thanks Stacey," Cuddy says with sincerity, having put their issues in the past.

"This is my boyfriend Phil," Stacey says as a blond man in his early forties wraps an arm around her.

"Be careful with her," House warns playfully.

"Hi, I am Lisa Cuddy…House," Cuddy corrects herself and smiles.

"She is a little slow," House teases and wraps an arm around Cuddy.

"Shut up, you should be honored that I took your last name," Cuddy says back.

"Don't pretend that your name isn't hyphenated, we all know," House banters back. Cuddy blushes and looks away.

A couple nurses that Cuddy invited appeared behind Stacey and Phil waiting to say their congratulations.

"It looks like my next condolence call is arriving," House mutters. Stacey laughs and lets her boyfriend guide her back to her seat.

"Be nice," Cuddy whispers heatedly.

While Cuddy is chatting with a Nurse Brenda, House sees out of the corner of his eye, Wilson slip into the reception. Wilson meets House's eyes and flashes the tickets that are hiding in his suit coat pocket. Dinner passes by uneventfully and the DJ announces that it is time to cut the cake.

"I swear to god if you shove cake in my face I will divorce you right now," Cuddy says in a dead serious tone.

"Is that a threat or a promise there sweetcheeks?" House asks.

"Don't tempt me," Cuddy says.

The chefs working at the Four Seasons bring out the impeccably designed cake. Cuddy originally picked out slices of cheesecake and tiramisu for the guests, but changed her mind when a friend of a donor referred her to a cake decorator and paid for the tab in full after House cured his daughter. Cuddy chose to do a marble cake with white frosting and blue flowers intermittently placed on the cake to tie in the color of the wedding.

"If the bride and groom could come to the middle of the dance floor so the cake could be cut, that would be great," The DJ says into the microphone.

House and Cuddy stand up and walk to where they are told. Emma, who is seated by the Wilson family, sees the cake and races over to her parents.

"Mommy! Daddy! Cake!" Emma says excitedly and points to the biggest cake she has ever seen.

"Yeah baby, we have to cut it first so you can eat it," Cuddy explains. Emma looks to her father for confirmation and goes back to her seat to wait.

"I suppose we should hurry up and cut it then," House says.

"Just remember what I told you," Cuddy warns.

"Don't worry, I will behave for now. Our honeymoon is a different story though,"

"I actually don't mind you misbehaving on our honeymoon," Cuddy winks at him and takes the knife off of the table.

"Don't stab me in front of all of these people, too many witnesses," House jokes and puts his hand over hers on the knife.

"I'll just throw you overboard on our honeymoon,"

"There won't be any water…oh I see what you are trying to do! Very clever Cuddy!" House exclaims and guides her hand to the cake.

"HURRY UP SO WE CAN EAT CAKE MOMMY AND DADDY!" Emma yells over their parents banter. The guests laugh at House and Cuddy's beautiful three year old daughter. Cuddy looks over at Wilson's table and notices that Kim, Ian and Sophia are gone.

"Where's Kim?" Cuddy mouths over to Wilson.

"Nap," Wilson mouths back.

"Can we cut this cake before our daughter has a coronary?" House asks.

"Right," Cuddy whispers to herself and allows House to cut the cake for them. The reception area bursts into applause, half of them shocked that House didn't try to pull something with the cake.

"I think Cuddy threatened him or something," Wilson overheard a nurse say to the other.

"Definitely, he never behaves," The other nurse whispers back. Wilson has to bite his tongue in order to stop himself from defending his two best friends. Kim slips back in with the two kids as the cake is being distributed.

"I think Ian is ready for a nap," Kim whispers to Wilson as she bounces Ian on her lap.

"I agree with you, I'll go get Cuddy," Wilson puts one of the twins into a seat next to Daniel and Emma who are happily babbling away at each other. Wilson smiles at them and heads over to the bride and groom table.

"Hey Wilson," Cuddy exclaims. House is too busy shoving cake in his mouth to respond.

"Ian is looking really tired and Kim was wondering where you wanted him to sleep."

"I rented a hotel room just for the night; if Kim would give Ian to House's mom she said that she would stay with him until he woke up." Cuddy reaches into her pocketbook, pulls out a room key and hands it to Wilson.

"Where are my mom and your mom? I haven't seen them since that awful picture you made us take together," House says with his mouth full.

"They have been seated at my families table behind Wilson's the entire time talking. They really have become such great friends," Cuddy says.

"My mother can become friends with anyone, even your old hag of a mother," House snarks. Cuddy hits him and accidently knocks his fork full of cake down.

"I can see that marriage hasn't softened you at all House," Wilson comments and leaves the couple to argue in peace.

"Give Ian and this room key to Mrs. House, she is going to watch Ian while he takes a nap," Wilson instructs and hands over the key card to Kim.

"I have a better idea, why don't we take Ian upstairs and have a quickie while everyone is still eating?" Kim whispers in his ear while holding a passed out Ian.

"I like the way you think, but I have to give a speech in ten minutes."

"I can watch Ian for a while, it's no problem, now come on, we only have nine minutes." Kim grabs Wilson's hand and leads him out of the reception area. House sees them and the look on Wilson's face.

"I think Wilson is about to get laid," House whispers to Cuddy who is busy talking to her mother.

"Watch your language you schmuck, your daughter is right over there," Arlene says.

"Nice to know that you haven't lost your hearing in your old age," House comments.

"House," Cuddy warns.

"Oh for the love of God, he is your husband Lisa; call him by his first name," Arlene says to her daughter.

"Trust me she does, she screams it actually if you know what I mean," House says. Cuddy's eyes widen and Arlene furrows her eyebrows.

"Of course she does, you never listen to her," Arlene says. House finds it incredibly hilarious that Arlene obviously doesn't get the sexual reference. Cuddy stomps on House's foot in order for him to know not to go any further.

"You are right mom; I sometimes have to scream at him to get my point across." Cuddy says disarmingly.

"Just like your father," Arlene mutters and leaves. House bursts into laughter and Cuddy glares at him.

"I can't believe you said that to my mother," Cuddy hisses.

"Oh relax, she didn't even know what I was talking about," House says and grins.

"Luckily for you,"

The waiters come out and clear the cake plates while House scopes around the room to see if Wilson has returned yet. He doesn't see Wilson anywhere and notes that he only has about a minute before Cuddy wants to start the speeches since it is getting pretty late.

"Where is Wilson?" Cuddy asks House.

"You were the one who have him a room key figure it out,"

"They better not be doing anything in front of my son," House sees Cuddy's protective look rise in her face and quickly calms her down.

"First of all, he is one so he wouldn't know what was going on anyway. Two, you know that he sleeps through anything, just like Emma. Three, I am sure Wilson and Kim get their freak on when Ian and Emma sleep over anyway."

"I really don't want to picture Wilson and Kim having sex. Wilson better get back here soon, Julia wants to put the kids to bed," Cuddy checks her Blackberry in her purse and notes that it is approaching eight.

"I am guessing that Wilson will be back in about two minutes," House says.

"You couldn't possibly know that," Cuddy says. House shoots her a "you've got to be kidding" look back.

"Fine, two minutes then," Cuddy says and sips her champagne waiting for Wilson to grace her with his presence.

Five minutes later Wilson stumbles into the banquet hall and readjusts his tie.

"HEY WILSON!" House shouts over the crowd. Wilson blushes as all eyes turn to look at him. Wilson smiles and walks over to House's table.

"Do you always have to do that?" Wilson asks.

"Wilson, you should know the answer to that question by now," House states. Wilson shrugs and Cuddy notices that he has lipstick on his cheek.

"Hey Wilson, you have some lipstick right there," Cuddy points to her own cheek and hands Wilson a mirror. Wilson takes it graciously and wipes the lipstick off with a nearby napkin.

"That was a long quickie, is little Jimmy okay?" House asks. Wilson rolls his eyes and gives the mirror back to Cuddy.

"Ian woke up and we decided that we shouldn't traumatize your child until he is old enough to remember it," Wilson jokes back.

"Thanks Wilson, you are a good best friend," House says.

"Now that you are here, we should start," Cuddy says and nods to the DJ.

"Everyone please direct your attention to the best man and maid of honor as they are about to give their speeches." The DJ says and the crowd quiets down.

"I'll go first," Wilson says and approaches the DJ booth to receive a microphone.

"Hi, I am James Wilson, House's one and only friend." Wilson pauses for the polite laughter, "I have known House and Cuddy for over ten years and I couldn't imagine two people more perfect for each other. They challenge each other and aren't afraid to call each other out on their crap. I was annoying House into admitting his feelings for Cuddy and I am so glad that he did. I know you two will continue to argue, banter and love each other for a long time to come. To House and Cuddy!" Wilson exclaims and raises his glass of champagne. The room erupts with applause. Wilson passes the microphone over to Julia and takes his seat.

"Lisa, ever since medical school you have been talking about House. Even though you told me a million times that you didn't have any feelings for him, I knew you were lying. I could tell that you liked him driving you insane because he keeps you on your toes. You guys have two wonderful children and I wish you nothing but a lifetime of happiness together." Julia also raises her class to toast to the newlyweds. Cuddy wipes a few tears away and mouths "I love you" over to her sister who says it back to her. House sighs and passes her his napkin because Wilson used hers.

"Hey! I wanna say somethin," Emma yells.

"What's that Emma?" Cuddy asks.

"You guys are bitchin!" Emma yells. The guests are torn between laughing at Emma's cuteness and being shocked by her boldness. Cuddy looks mortified and House looks proud.

"Emma thank you, but that's a bad word. Please don't say that again," Cuddy says.

"Kay, I not say dat bad word," Emma says and winks at House.

"Thanks Emma." House says and excuses himself to go talk to Wilson.

"I want to give her those tickets," House says and holds his hand out. Wilson slips them into his hand along with their passports.

"Oh shit! I totally forgot about those,"

"Yeah, you may need those to leave the United States."

"Good thinking Wilson, this is why are my best friend," House says and sneaks back to his own table. House clears his throat to get the guests attention,

"If I could have your attention I need to give something to my wife," House says, takes the ticket and passport out of his suit jacket and hands it to Cuddy. Cuddy sees where they are going and looks at House with a mixture of gratitude and bewilderment. Everyone claps and return to their conversations.

"Why Paris?" Cuddy asks. House is a little offended, but he can tell that Cuddy genuinely wants to know.

"The screensaver on your computer," House says.

"My screensaver is a picture of you, me and the kids."

"Mont-saint Michel," The realization dawns on Cuddy and she grins at House.

"That was from ten years ago, I can't believe you remember that," Cuddy kisses House.

"I can't believe you forgot about that," House says.

"I am not a genius like you,"

"Not many people are,"

"How long are we going to be gone?"

"Well, we have two weeks off so I think that a week in Paris and a week at home should be enough to make us not want to go back to work."

"Unlike you I actually like my job,"

"I like the fact that you are my boss and occasionally let me do what I want so I am good."

"Who is going to watch the kids?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head off, Wilson and Kim will watch them,"

"House, we can't just dump the kids off and run."

"Why not? Besides, it gives Emma some more time to spend with her boyfriend." Cuddy rolls her eyes.

"Emma is three and doesn't know what a boyfriend is. Danny is a cute boy who happens to be our best friend's son."

"I will leave it alone for now because of her age, but not in ten years."

"And we will talk about it then. For now, I am going to talk to Kim and check on Ian." Cuddy stands up and leaves the room. She bypasses her guests in the lobby and takes the elevator. Quickly, Cuddy heads to the room and knocks on the door. Kim answers and ushers her in. Ian is watching TV in his pajamas; Kim must have changed him out of his tuxedo.

"Mommy!" Ian runs over and hugs Cuddy. Cuddy lifts him up and hugs him tight, never getting tired of hearing that from her children.

"Hi baby, did you have a good nap?" Cuddy asks Ian.

"Yup! TV," Ian points and Cuddy throws Ian on the bed. He giggles and focuses back on the TV.

"What brings you up here?" Kim asks.

"House surprised me with tickets to Paris!" Cuddy practically squeals.

"Wow, I am impressed, I thought you were going to a three day monster truck rally for your honeymoon," Kim jokes.

"I thought so too, but he can be romantic at times. Sadly, they are few and far between. Anyway, I was wondering if you could watch the kids for a week. I know we ask all of the time, but we don't trust anything else."

"Of course I will watch them; I love your kids like they are my own. I do have a favor to ask though,"

"Sure, anything," Cuddy says.

"James and I are going to Tahiti next year for our anniversary, can you watch the kids?"

"Of course, Emma will be thrilled to have her 'buddy' at the house for a while."

"I am sure House will love that,"

"He doesn't have a choice in the matter,"

"Care to join the rest of us downstairs? Ian, come on we are going by daddy," Cuddy turns off the TV and picks Ian up. Kim opens the door for them and they head back downstairs.

"Your sister's family left with your mother," House tells Cuddy when he sees her walk in.

"Okay, it's getting late anyway, but Emma still seems to be wide awake." Cuddy says and looks at her daughter talking to Wilson.

"Let's do the first dance," Cuddy says and tells the DJ to play the song she picked out. Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up" blares through the speakers.

"What's next, 'Wing Beneath My Wings'?" House snarks.

"Shut up and dance with me," Cuddy whispers. Emma sees her parents dancing and grabs Daniel's hand. They dance along side of House and Cuddy. Cuddy can feel House tense up,

"Let them be, it's cute," Cuddy tells him. House momentarily decides to let it go and focus on his wife.

"How does it feel to be married to a stud like me?" House asks her.

"Nice to know your ego hasn't changed at all,"

"I'm like fine wine, I just get better with age," House says and Cuddy laughs.

"At least I know we will never get tired of each other,"

"Of course not, I keep you on your toes remember?" The song comes to a stop; House and Cuddy stop dancing but are still talking to each other on the dance floor.

"Buckle up, baby," Cuddy jokes.

"Are you sure you want to go down the cutesy name path with me? You won't win,"

"In order to stop you from embarrassing me completely at anytime, I take back my comment."

"Good choice Cuddles,"

"Our marriage is going to be fun, I promise,"

"I am just excited for our honeymoon, tons of sex all the time,"

"Isn't that the reason why you married me?"

"Well that, and sandwiches."

**A/N 2: That is it for House and Cuddy's wedding, I hope you enjoyed it! The last chapter jumps ahead to September. One more chapter left! Please review and thanks so much for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: This is it, the end of the line. Thank you to every single person who has ever reviewed any one of my stories, I really appreciate it. I hope that people continue to go back, read and review **_**Our Favorite Mistake, Prepare For Complications, and It All Leads Up To This.**_** Thank you and please enjoy my last chapter. **

**Chapter Eleven- Where We Are Now**

"I can't believe that Emma will be four years old next week," Cuddy whispers to House as they lie in bed together. House turns over in bed and looks at Cuddy.

"And she is starting preschool tomorrow," House whispers back.

"Don't rub it in," House laughs and shakes his head.

"If you need to cry, you better do it now instead of tomorrow. Emma won't want to go if she sees you crying."

"I'm not…" Cuddy says as a tear rolls down her cheek. House tries not to laugh as he wipes the tear from her eye.

"Why are you laughing?" Cuddy asks and feels embarrassed.

"Are daughter is going to preschool for a few hours, not college,"

"You wouldn't get it,"

"I think I understand it perfectly Cuddles."

"Good, now can I cry in peace now or do you have any other words of wisdom for me?"

"I think I have reached my quota for the day. Try to keep the weeping to a minimum; I have to get my beauty rest." House says and turns to face the wall. Cuddy picks up a nearby pillow and hits House over the head with it.

"OW! What was that for?" House asks.

"That was for being an insensitive jerk," Cuddy sticks her tongue out at House and waits for him to retaliate.

"I am not going to do anything now because you are expecting it. Just you wait Cuddy, I will get you back eventually."

"Should I be waiting for a whoopee cushion under my desk chair tomorrow?"

"That would be childish, goodnight Cuddy,"

"Goodnight House,"

At six o clock the next morning little Emma House bolts out of bed and runs to her parents bedroom.

"Mommy! Daddy! Up!" Emma squeals and hoists herself onto her parents California king bed. House and Cuddy both groan, having been up with Ian who came down with a fever last night and didn't go to bed until late.

"It's the first day of school!" Emma chants and jumps onto House. House's eyes shoot open, meeting the eyes of a very excited three year old.

"Alright, I'm up," House says and tickles Emma. Emma's laughter echoes through the master bedroom causing Cuddy to wake up fully.

"Mommy! It's the first day of school!" Emma excitedly tells Cuddy.

"So I have heard. Emma why don't you get dressed?" Cuddy suggests to Emma.

"Okay! Bye mommy and daddy!" Emma says and runs into her room.

"She's not excited at all," House says sarcastically.

"I know, you better get up and moving, she is going to want your pancakes before she goes off to school." Cuddy says.

"Crap, where is Wilson at a time like this?"

"Probably sleeping, or up with his own children,"

"Right," House slowly gets out of bed and goes into the bathroom to do his business. Cuddy heads to Ian's room to check on him.

"Hi little guy, are you feeling better?" Cuddy asks Ian who is in the process of waking up. Cuddy feels his forehead and notices that it feels slightly less warm than yesterday.

"Mommy," Ian says and reaches for Cuddy who picks him up and changes his diaper.

"Let's go get some breakfast," Cuddy says and takes the elevator downstairs to start making breakfast. After House is dressed, he takes a quick peek into Emma's room. Emma is dressed in jean shorts and a black t shirt with the words "Grave Digger" written across her chest in rhinestones.

"Hi daddy" Emma turns around and approaches House.

"Hi Emma," Emma does a twirl for House who rolls his eyes.

"You like my outfit daddy?" Emma asks and looks up at her father with matching blue eyes.

"Yeah, let's go eat some pancakes," Emma scampers out leaving House standing frozen in the spot. House can't believe his little girl is going to school. He mentally scolds himself for being such a typical parent and takes the elevator downstairs to be with his family.

"Ian just take a little bite," Cuddy coaxes and brings the spoon closer to Ian's mouth.

"No!" Ian says and jerks his head away from Cuddy. Emma walks past her and starts getting the pancake ingredients out of the fridge. Cuddy sighs and puts the spoon full of food down on the highchair. House gets off the elevator and into the kitchen.

"Ian still refusing to eat?" House asks and picks up the spoon that Cuddy dropped.

"Yeah, he needs to eat something so he can take his medicine."

"Ian, here comes the motorcycle," House says and makes a noise. Ian smiles and opens his mouth.

"I thought it was here comes the plane?" Cuddy asks.

"Oh please, that is for unimaginative parents. Us House men respond to creativity and brilliance," House says. Cuddy laughs and shakes her head,

"If that will get Ian to eat, than I will make car noises. I think Emma is waiting for you," Cuddy points to her daughter who is patiently sitting in a chair near the counter.

"Right," House walks over to the cabinets and gets the rest of the pancake stuff that Emma couldn't reach.

"Mommy?" Emma asks.

"Yes Emma," Cuddy responds.

"Do you like my outfit?" Emma says. Cuddy turns around and smiles at her daughter.

"I love it, don't you Greg?" Cuddy asks House.

"Yeah," House mutters and starts mixing the ingredients together. Cuddy can tell that House is having a harder time with this then he lets on. She just prays that it won't interfere with Emma's excitement about school.

"Pancakes will be ready in about five minutes, why don't you grab your plate and cup?" House asks Emma.

"Okay daddy," Emma hops down from the chair and walks over to the low cabinets where Cuddy has some child-sized bowls and cups. Emma grabs the matching pink set and hands it to her dad. House flips some pancakes onto Emma's plate and pours some milk for her.

"Daddy these are yummy!" Emma says and shoves a forkful of food into her mouth.

"What do you say to daddy for making your special pancakes?" Cuddy says.

"Thank you," Emma says with her mouthful.

"Emma don't talk with your mouth full please," Cuddy lightly scolds. House sticks his tongue out at her as he is placing a plate down in front of Cuddy.

"Sorry mommy," Emma says and offers her best apology smile at her mother.

"What a ham," House comments and starts digging into his own plate of pancakes.

"What dat mean daddy?" Emma asks.

"It means that you are very cute," Cuddy explains for House.

"Oh, I knew dat," Emma says and polishes off the rest of her pancakes.

"Well I guess she told us," House whispers over to Cuddy.

"I done!" Emma exclaims and proudly shows her parents her empty plate.

"Good job, go put your plate and cup into the sink." Emma follows her mother's instructions and goes back to sit at the table.

"What time do we have to be there?" House asks Cuddy.

"I think school starts at seven fifteen, so we should leave pretty soon," Cuddy says looking at the clock in the kitchen.

"Okay, Emma can you get your backpack?" House asks.

"Sure Daddy!" Emma says and scampers back upstairs. Cuddy finishes feeding Ian and eating herself. House puts his plate in the sink and leans against the counter. Cuddy walks over to him and puts a hand on his back.

"Hey, are you okay?" Cuddy asks. House turns to look at her,

"Fine, my leg was hurting for a second," House lies.

"It's perfectly normal to feel like your little girl is growing up," Cuddy says, not buying into House's lie.

"Relax Cuddy, we will have a new little kid to obsess over soon," House walks past Cuddy, but stops to put a hand on Cuddy's abdomen. Cuddy smiles up at him and House takes his hand off of her stomach.

"I am going to get Ian redressed, he looks ridiculous," House says, takes Ian out of the highchair and into the elevator. Meanwhile, Cuddy is standing in the same spot with her hand brushing over her stomach.

Cuddy found out she was pregnant two weeks ago and House boasts that he managed to knock her up "in between crepes and looking at the Eifel tower". Cuddy being who she is, immediately scheduled an appointment with Douglas to make sure the baby was developing okay. Given that Cuddy is now forty five, she was scared that she wouldn't be able to carry the baby to term. Douglas assured her that as long as she followed every one of his instructions the baby would be fine.

Douglas ordered her to take two prenatal vitamins, transition over to working half days as quickly as she could, and put her feet up whenever possible. Cuddy is determined to follow everything Douglas has said in order to deliver a baby in late April.

"Lisa!" House yells, breaking Cuddy's train of thoughts.

"What?" Cuddy asks, not sure why House is yelling at her.

"Are you okay? You were doing that weird staring into space thing," House asks, channeling an expectant father.

"You do it all the time," Cuddy says.

"True, but I actually do it for a purpose like when I am solving a case," House points out.

"Let's go!" Emma says and slings her backpack over her shoulder.

"We have to wait for Marina to get here," Cuddy tells House. The doorbell rings not five seconds later.

"Are you sure you aren't psychic?" House asks.

"Get the door, I have to grab my briefcase," Cuddy orders.

"Control freak," House comments.

"Misanthropic jerk," Cuddy snaps back and winks at House.

"I'm glad we understand each other," House comments.

"Marina!" Emma announces and lets the nanny come in.

"Emma you look so cute! Where are you going today?" The nanny asks.

"School Marina! See my packback?" Emma says and turns around.

"You mean your backpack," House corrects her and hands Ian over to Marina.

"He had a fever last night, but it seems to be coming down. Lisa gave him ibuprofen about fifteen minutes ago so he should pass out quickly," House says.

"Okay Dr. House," Marina says.

"Cuddy get your gigantic butt out here, we are going to be late!" House yells.

"Since when did you care about being late?" Cuddy asks.

"Since when do not care?" House asks back.

"I do, it's just strange when you are the one rushing me," Cuddy brushes past him and walks out the front door.

"Good luck at school today Emma!" Marina says.

"Thanks," Emma says. House closes the door behind him and they get into the car.

"How far is this place?" House asks.

"It's about five minutes from the hospital," Cuddy comments.

"Only you would turn down Walden Wood so Emma could be closer to the hospital," House says teasingly.

"Walden Wood is a half an hour away, I want somewhere closer in case of emergency," Cuddy explains. House looks in the backseat and can tell that Emma is starting to become a little nervous.

"Hey Emma, what do you do if a boy tries to kiss you?" House asks. Cuddy shoots him a warning look, knowing where this is going.

"I will knock der teeth out daddy!" Emma says proudly and smiles at her parents.

"House!" Cuddy yells.

"Hows!" Emma imitates and laughs.

"What?" House asks innocently.

"Emma, you will tell the teacher first," Cuddy says sternly. House sneaks a peek at Cuddy and notices how irritated she looks.

"Come on Cuddy, you need to calm down," House says.

"Yeah calm down," Emma parrots.

"I would be calm if you would stop pissing me off," Cuddy whispers to House.

"Well that's not going to happen anytime soon," House says and pulls into a parking spot in front of the preschool. Cuddy gets out and lets Emma out.

"Greg aren't you coming?" Cuddy asks after House hasn't gotten out of the car.

"No, I don't want Emma's teacher to hate me on the first day." House says. Cuddy isn't convinced, but doesn't want to argue with him in front of Emma.

"Okay, say goodbye to daddy Emma," Cuddy tells her daughter who has a firm grip on her hand.

"Bye daddy," Emma whispers. Cuddy leads Emma into the school and Emma squeezes her mother's hand harder.

"Hi I am Lisa House, this is my daughter Emma," Cuddy introduces herself to a petite thirty something blonde woman.

"Hi I am Ms. Meghan," Meghan extends her hand for Cuddy to shake. Emma hides behind her mother, refusing to meet the teacher.

"Emma, mommy has to go to work now, you need to let go." Cuddy says.

"Mommy don't go!" Emma says and starts to cry.

"Emma, do you want to see all the new toys we have here?" The teacher asks.

"Oh that sounds like fun Emma," Cuddy says. Emma lets go of Cuddy and follows the teacher.

"Bye baby, Marina will be here to pick you up," Cuddy says and quickly leaves. As she is walking to the car, Cuddy can feel tears streaming down her face. She opens the car door and House is shocked to see her crying.

"What happened?" House asks. Cuddy reaches over and buries her head in House's chest.

"Emma started crying and I felt so bad for leaving her," Cuddy says and sniffs.

"Wilson owes me five bucks, I knew your guilt complex would kick in," House says and rubs Cuddy's back. Cuddy lurches away from House looking very angry.

"You bet Wilson that I would cry dropping Emma off? What the hell?" Cuddy asks.

"Oh come on Cuddy, you know I do stuff like that all the time." Cuddy rolls her eyes.

"That has never stopped me before from getting mad at you when you do 'stuff like that'" Cuddy puts air quotes to mock House.

"Are you done crying now? I would fix your makeup before we get to the hospital," House lightly suggests. Cuddy glares at him and wipes her smeared makeup off with a Kleenex. She reaches into her briefcase and pulls out some mascara which she reapplies. House starts the car once he sees that Cuddy is done with her makeup.

"What was the real reason that you didn't want to go into the preschool today?" Cuddy asks.

"I was afraid that I would find that Emma's teacher is more attractive than you," House deflects.

"Fine, why did you teach Emma to say what she said about boys?" Cuddy asks.

"I am protecting my daughter the only way I know how," House says simply.

"By teaching her violence? House, telling her to beat the crap out of every boy that looks at her isn't going to be good for her."

"This isn't about beating boys up, this is about Emma standing up for herself!"

"She is three years old! She doesn't know any better House!"

"Emma is naive and I don't want some slimy germ filled boy coming anywhere near her!" House pulls into his reserved spot and turns the car off.

"Of course she is naïve, she is a child! You have got to stop being so overprotective of her."

"Says the mother who has in a private preschool five minutes from where she works,"

"I did that for her own good, don't you dare use that against me!"

"I told her what I did for her own good too Cuddy. You can't see that because you are to goddamn stubborn."

"And you are too pigheaded to see that you are being ridiculous,"

"Fine if you think that I am wrong tell Emma and watch what happens. She is not going to know what to do when a boy goes too far,"

"You go from one extreme to the other; the world isn't so black and white House."

"Yes it is, and we aren't always going to be there to protect Emma, she needs to know how to defend herself."

"Defend herself from what? People like you who always see the worse in people and mock them for it?" Cuddy says and instantly regrets it.

"Nice, are you going to accuse me of abusing our daughter next?" House spits out and gets out of the car. Cuddy gets out of the car too and stands in front of House.

"Get out of my way Cuddy," House says and looks down at her with ice cold blue eyes.

"House I am so sorry, I didn't mean it," Cuddy apologizes.

"It's true, now move," House says and uses his cane to push her out of the way.

"House!" Cuddy calls out after him, but he doesn't turn around. Cuddy takes a deep breath to calm herself down and walks into the hospital confidently. On the inside, Cuddy curses herself for being so stupid. _How could you say something like that to House, you know how sensitive he is! Why would you insult his parenting skills when you are more aware than anyone how much he questions himself? Damn it Lisa, wake up!_

By noon, Wilson heads over to House's office, expecting him to be in the middle of a differential. Instead, Wilson sees House's team talking amongst themselves and House sitting in his office half reading a journal article.

"I'm surprised you haven't come to mock Cuddy about Emma's first day of school and collect your five dollars," Wilson says as he is walking in.

"You can drop your five dollars off and leave," House says. Wilson can tell that something is going on between him and Cuddy because House is the meanest when he is upset.

"What happened this morning?"

"None of your business now _get out_," House practically growls the last two words. Wilson throws his hands up, takes five dollars out of his wallet and drops it on the table.

"Fine, I will leave, have a nice day,"

"Don't bother going to Cuddy, she won't tell you what happened either," House says as Wilson is leaving.

At one, Cuddy is wrapping up a budget proposal when Wilson knocks on the door. Cuddy waves him in and puts the file in her briefcase to take home for later.

"House sent me here to take you home," Wilson says and watches Cuddy's face fall at the realization that House wasn't coming.

"That was very nice of you Wilson thank you," Wilson is the only staff member that knows that Cuddy is pregnant. The rest of the hospital will find out in about six weeks after her second trimester appointment with Douglas.

"Do you have everything?" Wilson asks.

"I think so, let me just shut down the computer real fast," Cuddy shuts the computer down, grabs her briefcase and follows Wilson out. Cuddy ignores the surprised stares that follow her as she is leaving the hospital in the middle of the afternoon with Wilson. Cuddy is not stupid enough to know that most of her staff has figured out that she is pregnant because she left at one every day when she was pregnant with Ian. Thankfully no one has out right asked her yet because Cuddy would have to come up with a really good excuse until she tells the board.

"Even though House told me not to, I am going to ask anyway. What is going on between the two of you?" Wilson asks on the ride back to Cuddy's house.

"I said something to House that I shouldn't have." Cuddy explains.

"Did you apologize?" Cuddy shoots Wilson an "are you serious" look.

"Dumb question, I'm guessing he didn't forgive you by the way he was acting today."

"I don't know what to do Wilson. I really didn't mean it; he just makes me so angry sometimes that I lash out."

"I understand Cuddy and I bet you he will be ready to forgive you by the time he gets home. If I were you I would just leave him alone for the rest of the day and when he gets home tell him what you told him. I bet you guys will be fine." Wilson pulls into Cuddy's driveway and puts the car in park.

"Thanks Wilson, I really appreciate your advice," Cuddy gives Wilson a kiss on the cheek and gets out of the car.

"Mommy!" Emma and Ian exclaim when Cuddy walks through the front door.

"Hi guys," Cuddy says with little enthusiasm and plops down on the couch. Marina sees her employer's distress and picks up Ian.

"Would you like me to stay?" Marina asks.

"No, I think we are all going to take a nap," Cuddy says and hands Marina twenty bucks.

"Thank you, see you tomorrow," Marina takes the money and leaves.

"How was your first day of school Emma?" Cuddy asks.

"Good! I made new friends!" Emma exclaims.

"Cool! Maybe you should invite them over to your birthday party next week," Cuddy suggests.

"Okay, I vite them tomorrow," Emma says and yawns.

"Did you get lunch Emma?" Cuddy asks and picks Ian up off the carpet.

"Yup, nanas and a PBJ," Emma says and climbs on the couch to sit next to Cuddy.

"Okay, I think we all need naps," Cuddy tells Emma and Ian.

"Mommy take nap too?" Emma asks.

"Especially mommy, she is very tired," Cuddy says and leads Emma to her room upstairs.

"When we wake up we are going to make daddy his favorite food tonight for dinner." Cuddy tells Emma as she is tucking her in.

"Okay, I go to sleep now," Emma informs her mother and points to the door. Cuddy takes the hint and takes Ian into his own room.

"Emma kicked us out of her room," Cuddy tells Ian.

"Emmy," Ian says. Cuddy lowers him down in the crib and turns off the lights.

Alone and under the covers, Cuddy closes her eyes silently hoping that House is ready to forgive her by the time he gets home.

Alone in his office, House grabs his cane off of the ottoman and starts twirling it. He goes over the argument that he had with Cuddy this morning and tries to get himself to see it her way.

_Should I have taught Emma to handle boys that way? Or should I have told her that violence is not the answer and to tell the teacher? God this parenting crap is complicated. Can I honestly put what Cuddy said to me behind me? Knowing Cuddy, she is probably giving herself the ultimate guilt trip right now. She seemed genuinely sorry, and she has forgiven me for saying far worse things to her in the past._

House double checks with his team to see if they found an interesting case. They tell him they haven't and since it is five o clock, House tells them that he is going home.

When House walks into his home he recognizes the familiar scent of Cuddy's homemade chili.

"Emma can you grab me some bowls please? _Carefully,_" Cuddy stresses. House stands in the doorway just watching his wife and daughter cook for him. Emma grabs three bowls off the counter and turns around to set them on the table.

"Daddy!" Emma exclaims and sets the bowls on the table before running over to her father. Cuddy lightly smiles at House before bringing the Crockpot of chili over to the table.

"Dinner's ready, I made your favorite." Cuddy says awkwardly and gets out some baby food for Ian to eat.

"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach," House comments and sits down.

"I was hoping you would feel that way. I really am sorry Greg, I was just angry." Cuddy apologizes.

"Apology accepted, now let's eat." House grabs a spoon and digs into his chili.

"That's it? You aren't going to hold this over my head every time we get into a fight?" Cuddy asks in disbelief.

"I never thought of that, I think I will," Cuddy glares at him.

"Mommy? What are you saying sorry to daddy for?" Emma asks. Cuddy bites her lip, unsure of how to explain their argument to her daughter.

"Your mean old mom told me that she didn't like my shirt. I for one really like this shirt," House lies. Cuddy is silently thankful that House didn't try to guilt trip her through Emma. She grabs House's hand and squeezes it, an unspoken thank you.

"Daddy, I made friends at school!" Emma informs her father.

"Really? Any boys?" House asks.

"_Greg,_" Cuddy warns.

"Just wondering, can't a father be curious?" House asks innocently.

"Not when their father is you," Cuddy says.

"No boys, Maddy said they have cooties," Emma tells House.

"Remind me to send Maddy a thank you present," House quips.

"Mommy said I could vite dem over to my party,"

"Okay," House agrees.

After dinner, Emma asks if she can watch _Finding Nemo_, an early birthday present from House's mom since she will be out of town on Emma's actual birthday. House and Cuddy let Emma as long as she goes to bed right after with no complaints. Cuddy makes House watch it with the family and he somewhat enjoyed it. He still mocked the fact that Disney is teaching kids to go on adventures with mentally disabled people, but he kept the sarcastic comments to a minimum for Emma. The movie ends and true to her word, Emma allows her parents to tuck her in without any resistance.

House and Cuddy put a passed out Ian to bed after, and go to their own bedroom.

"Thank you for lying to Emma about our argument earlier." Cuddy says.

"I figured I let you grovel enough. Emma is too young to understand our complex relationship,"

"I learned today that we know exactly which buttons to push when it comes to each other,"

"You are just now figuring that out? Way to be dense Cuddles,"

"I knew you knew how to do that to me, I just didn't know I could do that to you."

"Now that you do, can we have make up sex now?" Cuddy rolls her eyes and straddles House.

"Get your pregnant ass off of me," House says.

"Make me," Cuddy threatens.

"I knew you always liked it rough. Where is the dominatrix mask?"

"I gave it to Wilson,"

"Ew, I'm gonna like barf," House says, channeling his inner teen. Cuddy kisses him to shut him up.

"We had our first fight as a married couple. That took a lot longer than I thought it would."

"That's because marriage has turned me into an angel and you into a bitch," House says. Cuddy smacks him really hard on the chest.

"Shut up or I will make you sleep outside,"

"You would miss me too much; you wouldn't have the opportunity to steal all my covers in the middle of the night making me freeze my ass off."

"That is fun,"

"Are we going to have sex or not? All of this talking is misleading,"

"Then stop talking,"

**A/N 2: The end! Please leave a review on your way out. I promise a one shot about Christmas in late November, early December. I don't have a title for it yet. Thank you so much for reading. **


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